Complicated Simplicity
by Super Chocolate Bear
Summary: Flash has a conflict of ethics when those he loves most are put in mortal danger.
1. Meeting Point

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Complicated Simplicity**_

**_Chapter One: Meeting Point_**

Linda sighed and looked down at her watch. They had been waiting for half an hour now, and still no-one had arrived to let them in. What was keeping them?

She looked over at Marla, who was obviously not as annoyed at the situation as she was. The camerawoman was idly fiddling with something on her camera, occasionally looking into the eyepiece to check on something or other.

Sat next to Marla was Hunter Zolomon, the Rogue profiler for the Central City PD's Department for Metahuman Hostility, or DMH for short. Although he hadn't been with the force long, he had quickly made a name for himself in the three person department, even helping the Flash find a super powered criminal or two.

The Flash, otherwise known to Linda as Wally West, her erstwhile boyfriend. She was still having difficulty adapting to the fact that the quiet and incredibly klutz-y Wally West was a superhero. Not to mention being one of the most boisterous and borderline obnoxious superheroes. He was once again at work today, though not at his usual post in the CPD's CSI lab. Wally once dismissed the superhero work as a hobby, but Linda saw it as much more than that, and probably always would. Besides, if that was a hobby, what would Wally call all the charity and community service stuff he does in and out of costume?

Hunter Zolomon muttered something obviously uncomplimentary under his breath and looked at his watch. He had better places to be, it seemed. Zolomon had agreed to come with Linda to Iron Heights – the Central City prison – once she had:

a) Told him why she was doing a story on Iron Heights in the first place

and

b) Told him she was Wally's girlfriend.

She had been given reports both anonymous and signed that some of the super powered Rogues were being mistreated in the prison, being denied even the most basic human rights.

The warden, Gregory Wolfe, had maintained that these conditions were necessary, but Linda found that the rumours of the daily beatings stretched that claim a little _too _far. And, after doing some digging on the good warden, she found that Wolfe, once a prosecutor in St Louis, had an intense hatred for all super powered criminals ever since a friend of his was murdered by a supervillain years ago.

"Somewhere to be?" Linda asked idly.

The profiler looked over at her in the same manner, his eyes almost half closed. "Home," he said with a wry smile.

"Long day, huh?"

He nodded wearily. "Someone in Coast City is on a killing spree, and apparently," he paused to yawn. "He's from Central City."

"Anyone I'd know about?"

A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I'm sure we'll release a statement. You'll have to wait until then, Ms Park."

"Very well, Mr Zolomon." She paused for a moment. "And if I haven't said so already… thanks for agreeing to come along, and for doing that interview earlier."

He shrugged. "No problem. If it helps the people to see just how the warden treats these people, then it'll be worthwhile."

The door opened, and someone stepped through wearing the warden's customary uniform.

Except it wasn't warden Wolfe. It was someone who bore no resemblance to the warden in any way.

Zolomon got to his feet, pushing up on his cane. "Where's Wolfe?"

The man smiled. He had a rather thin face, and his equally thin black hair was pulled back behind him with a small ponytail protruding from the back.

"He's busy right now. He sent me to tell you you'll have to come back later."

"Is there a problem?" Zolomon asked, eyebrow cocked.

"Oh, no problem. He's just busy."

Linda scowled.

_Oh, no you don't._

"Excuse me," she said, getting to her feet and walking over to the replacement warden. "But Wolfe has been dodging me for the past month, and I am _not _going to just back out now that he's gotten cold feet. If he sends me away now, then that's exactly what I'm going to report to the public. And you know what? It'll just make my case all the more believable. Why not let us in if you have nothing to hide?"

Hunter smirked and looked at the warden. Marla, having seen this kind of display every other day, was still cleaning her camera, acting as though nothing was wrong.

The warden seemed as though he might explode, but then just as quickly calmed down, a pleasant smile on his face.

"All right. But not for too long; we're still very busy here."

Linda nodded. "Thank you." She looked over at Marla and summoned her over with a wave of her hand.

"Oh, we're going in now?" Marla asked wryly, prompting Hunter to smile again, although this time he hid it a little better. While he wasn't afraid of a creepy looking warden, an angry Linda Park? He doubted even Superman would want such a thing.

"If you'll follow me," the warden said, leading them down the corridor and to a door with a misted window, the writing on the glass reading 'Warden Wolfe'.

Linda looked over at their tour guide. "So what's your position here?"

"The warden will explain everything," he said, opening the door for them. They all went in, and Linda gasped as she saw the unconscious form of warden Wolfe on the floor. Zolomon went over to him as fast as his cane would allow and knelt beside him, seeing the blood on the warden's dark skin as soon as he entered.

The 'warden' stood at the door let out a laugh that sounded like it belonged in a crappy B-movie. They all looked over at him, wondering just what was going on. Flames began to burst from his neck until his entire head was encompassed in them. His clothes glowed a warm yellow before disappearing altogether, revealing a dark red costume with a Dracula-sized collar and cape.

"So sorry," he said, although it was difficult to see if he had a mouth beneath all the flames. "But your interview will have to wait."

A burst of flames sprang from his head, and the last thing Linda saw was a bright yellow light before she was knocked into unconsciousness.

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There was a bright flash of yellow light in the background, and the Atom ducked his head. Static filled the screen for a moment, but slowly the image of the costumed scientist returned. He smiled apologetically at Mr Terrific.

"_Sorry. This thing's quite unpredictable."_

"But not dangerous."

"_Well, not yet. To be honest, the only people who ever got it to work were two teenagers, and one of them did it by accident. Incidentally, any luck finding them yet?"_

The Justice League co-ordinator's lips made a thin line. "They're both busy in Dakota. They said they'd contact me when they're done."

"_Do they need any help?"_

"I asked, but they're defensive about their territory."

"_These solo heroes always are." _Atom sighed. _"Ah well. Send them up if you can, but there's no rush."_

He nodded. "Right. Mr Terrific, out."

The channel terminated with the push of a button. He sat back in his chair and laced his fingers together in front of him, tapping his forefingers against one another thoughtfully. The machine in question had been invented by a brilliant – if misguided – Dakota based scientist who named himself Timecode. Charging exponential amounts of money, he offered clients the ability to travel back in time and correct mistakes from their past – or gain knowledge from the future. Local hero Static became aware of this, and, upon finding out his time travel device could theoretically work, trailed Timecode to Gotham, where Batman and Robin helped him defeat the scientist.

That was where Static was accidentally sent into the future while using his powers to keep the machine stable. His partner in super heroics, Gear, was able to bring him back from the future using his not inconsiderable affinity for understanding and building anything to do with science. Batman had transferred the device up to the Watchtower via a Javelin, but when the device nearly destroyed the ship in mid-flight (something to do with the engines) they had resolved from then on to move it by teleporter.

Not that _that_ was any easier. The way the teleporter worked (naturally) conflicted with the way the time machine worked, and so a lot of preparations were being made to allow transit to the Metro Tower, which had much more advanced scientific equipment to allow study of the machine. The Atom, for one, couldn't wait to take it apart and examine it.

Unfortunately, both Static and Gear, the two with the most experience (which admittedly, wasn't much) were busy battling what they described as 'a big egg type thing with legs', so they were unavailable to help.

But there were other things to attract his attention.

Mr Terrific sighed and looked at the digital clock above his head. He looked down at his wristwatch as though it would yield different results, but it read the same time.

Once again, Green Arrow and the Flash were late for an assignment. It hadn't been the first time, and J'onn had assured him it wouldn't be the last. When working separately they already tended to err on the late side, so when they were together… one was lucky to have them show up at all.

He reached forward and pushed the comm button, opening a channel to Green Arrow and Flash's communicators.

"Flash, Green Arrow, come in."

No response, at least at first. Then, a crackling noise.

Then, finally:

"…_and I say it is! Yeah?"_

Mr Terrific rubbed his eyes wearily. "Where are you, Flash?"

"_Kinda in the middle of something. Whoa!"_

Now _that _made him worry. "What's the problem? If you need backup, I can-"

Green Arrow's voice interrupted him. _"Negative, T. Everything's under control. Shouldn't be more than two minutes, tops."_

"_Two minutes? Ego much?"_

"_Oh come on. I could've mopped the floor with you in two seconds flat if I wanted to."_

A sigh once again escaped Mr Terrific's lips, this one heavier than the last. Reaching forward, he performed a search of the Watchtower for the locations of Flash and Green Arrow. They were in the rec room.

More specifically, they were in the rec room standing at the _Space Blaster 3 _arcade booth that Flash, Static and Gear had insisted they buy. Of course, when the League refused, they turned to Green Arrow, who was more than delighted to help.

Mr Terrific hated eccentric billionaires.

He pushed the comm button again. "I need you up here. Now. Orion's been waiting for ten minutes."

The New God didn't acknowledge the mention of his name; he merely continued staring at the control panel with his arms crossed his front of him as he leant against the wall. Judging from the way his jaw was grinding from side to side, he was obviously thinking of different ways he could punish both the Flash and Green Arrow for this.

And Mr Terrific was quickly on his way to joining him.

"_Tell him to wait for a few more seconds…" _Green Arrow replied. He suddenly yelled in frustration, making Mr Terrific pull out his earpiece and causing Orion to cringe and grasp at his helmet where his ear would be underneath.

"_Ha! Totally kicked your butt!"_

"_Only because you've wasted your entire life playing this thing. You need to get out and get a life, you know that?"_

"_Sour grapes, sour grapes," _Flash sang in a 'nyah nyah' tune.

"Flash. Green Arrow."

"_Uh… yeah?"_

"_Please_ get up here. NOW!"

"_Okay, geez… What's his problem?"_

Green Arrow grunted an 'I dunno' noise in response. _"All he had to do was ask."_

As soon as they got up to the command center, Mr Terrific decided, he would kill them. Or at least hurt them _just enough _so that they could _barely _accomplish their mission, and _then _he would kill them. He looked over his shoulder at the New God silently fuming there.

And Orion would help.

A few short minutes later, and Flash and Green Arrow were in the command center, having no idea just how close to death they in fact were.

"So what's the problem?" Flash asked, leaning against the control panel on his hands.

"I got a call. The Central City police have lost all communication with Iron Heights."

The speedster nodded, and Arrow looked over at him curiously. "Iron Heights?"

"It's the name of the prison."

Mr Terrific frowned. "It's also where some of the Flash's nastiest rogues reside."

Orion snorted derisively. "I've met his," he paused for a moment to put sarcastic emphasis on the next word, "_enemies _before. They're no real threat."

Flash tilted his head at the New God. "Seems to me you were having quite a bit of trouble with them the last time. Didn't I have to bail you out when they kicked your butt?" he asked, scratching his chin and looking up at the ceiling.

The only response was a low growl and a muttered curse. Flash cupped a hand around his ear. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Mr Terrific put up a hand to stop them, since Green Arrow was obviously enjoying the argument far too much to intervene. If anything, he would have egged them on.

"Enough, you two. It's not just the likes of Captain Cold and Mirror Master. There's Weather Wizard, who killed more than his fair share of people when he was last free, not to mention Abra Kadabra, who turned two guards' intestines into boa constrictors and unleashed three giant yellow monsters that crushed twelve people."

Green Arrow winced, and Orion seemed unimpressed. Flash just kept his head down, having been witness to most of those events.

The Emerald Archer raised a hand. "Do we know what could have caused them to lose contact?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. And considering that the place is more crowded with Rogues than it's ever been, the police are obviously a little reluctant to go in without some super powered backup to level the playing field."

Flash pushed himself off the control panel and clapped his hands together. "Okay then. Let's get to it."

"Hold on a sec." Arrow turned to Mr Terrific. "What if the Rogues have gotten out? Are we going to be enough?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Ask him; he's the expert," he replied, pointing to Flash.

"Uh… we might want some of the big guns on standby," the speedster said.

The Justice League co-ordinator paused for a moment, running a small inventory in his head. "A lot of them are out on missions, but they should be finishing up soon. I'll call them while you assess the situation and get back to you."

Flash gave him a quick salute before zipping out the door and appearing several floors below on the teleporter pad. Arrow winked at Mr Terrific before he followed suit.

"Much obliged, T."

Orion just grunted and slowly followed the Archer.

After watching them teleport away, Mr Terrific contacted Wonder Woman for a status report.

Some day, he'd like to on some missions again.

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Mr Terrific had teleported them down just outside the main gate entrance to Iron Heights, leading into the courtyard. Wally found it strange how it always seemed to be dark whenever he went to Iron Heights. He wondered what it looked like during the day. Still as unbearably creepy, he was sure.

"I thought the local law enforcement was supposed to be here," Orion said, arms crossed almost huffily.

"I don't think they would want to tip of whoever's behind this mess," Arrow replied, peeking through the metal bars of the giant gate to take a look at the courtyard. He turned to Flash, who as on his right looking at the guard towers to check for activity. "Anything?"

The speedster shook his head. "What's weird is that there's no sign of a fight going down."

After a pause, Arrow took his bow from off his shoulder and pulled out an arrow with a rope attached. "Well… we don't want to keep our mystery man waiting, do we?"

The only reply was a smirk before Flash ran up and over the wall in the blink of an eye. The Emerald Archer took aim and fired his arrow at the top of the wall, hooked his bow back onto his shoulder, and climbed up. Orion just jumped clean over the wall in one leap, landing with a loud thud on the other side.

Flash turned to him irritably, putting a finger to his lips. "Shhh! What're trying to do, let the whole city know we're here?"

The New God turned up his nose slightly. "I don't see how I could have done it any-"

Arrow landed with nary a whisper next to him.

Orion grumbled something uncomplimentary about light-footed humans before getting up and moving forward.

After exchanging knowing smiles, Flash and Green Arrow followed him, keeping to the shadows as they approached the building.

"You come here a lot?" Arrow asked, keeping his eyes on the various windows and cell grates, checking for any sign of activity. Nothing.

Flash smiled. "Oh yeah, one of my favourite vacationing spots. Friendly locals, wonderful cuisine, and the décor has to be seen to be believed."

"That good, huh?"

A troubled look came across the superhero's face. "It has been ever since this new warden took over. Guy's a fruit loop."

"What makes you say that?"

"He treats supervillains like something less than human. Keeps 'em all in this nasty little basement area called the Pipeline. It's like a sewer down there, and they don't get much food or water either. Shot on sight if they're caught escaping, kept in costume so the guards know when they _are _escaping. Not to mention the daily beatings…" He shook his head. "No-one deserves that kind of treatment."

Green Arrow didn't reply. Orion pointed to a back entrance, and both of his companions nodded, following him to the metal door. After looking it over once, Orion punched the door square in the center and grabbed the edges, pulling it out of its' frame. He seemed ready to toss it away, but then gently placed it on the ground next to him. After shooting them a 'happy now?' look, Orion went inside, seemingly indifferent as to whether they followed him or not.

The lights were off. Arrow fumbled about for a light switch but came up empty. He pulled out an arrow and twisted the top, causing it to burst to life with a fizzling noise.

Flash smiled wryly. "A flare arrow?"

"Endorsed by Black Canary as 'the first functional thing I've ever done'."

There was no noise in the dank corridor except for the flare and the constant dripping of a pipe overhead.

"Do you know where we're going?"

The speedster shrugged. "I _think _we're in a maintenance access… place. Hey, Big O?"

Orion didn't respond.

"Big O?"

Flash sighed.

"Orion?"

He turned. "What?"

Green Arrow smiled as Flash sighed and shook his head. "You see any doors up ahead?" The New God shook his head, and Flash thought for a moment. He turned to Arrow. "Gimme another flare, would ya?"

Not really thinking about it, the archer reached back and pulled out another one, twisting it on.

Flash nodded, taking the green luminescent flare. "Okay. Now just wait here. I'll be right back." And with that, he shot off down the corridor, the light of the flare shrinking into the distance. Then, just as suddenly, it began to grow, and the Flash returned. He pointed down the corridor. "There's a door just a little but further down."

The three set off.

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Volcana absentmindedly twirled a pen between her fingers as she leant back in the chair, her legs crossed and resting on the control panel in front of her. This was boring. She wasn't built for waiting. She was a 'get out there' kinda gal. Red eyes idly scanned the various monitors looking in on the supervillains kept here. She thought there would at least be _one _who was cute out of the bunch of them. Nothing. They all seemed like middle aged, balding men.

It was almost a joke, really. The Flash, one of the youngest and liveliest superheroes had crotchety old guys as his enemies.

The door behind her opened, and her erstwhile partner in crime walked through.

She rubbed her eyes wearily. "You know, when you asked me to help you, you didn't say it'd be so boring. What's taking so long?"

Dreamslayer stood beside her, his arms behind his back as he looked over the surveillance monitors.

"They… are more reluctant than I thought."

"Reluctant?" She gasped sarcastically. "You mean you couldn't convince them with your 'I am the Lord of the Dimension of Terrors!' thing?"

"Well… I am! And it worked with you, didn't it?"

"No, I was being chased by the Justice League, and you _do _have this handy teleporting trick."

"… shut up, Volcana. You're here as muscle, nothing more."

"I think I've got enough muscle for the both of us…" she muttered.

"Shut up! I don't need muscle! I am the Lord of the Dimension-"

"- of Terrors, yes, I get it." She groaned exasperatedly. "Can we go now?"

"No! I will bend them to my will, and they will follow me into battle!"

Volcana closed her eyes and shook her head. "Look, if you want to get these guys to join you, you're going to have to learn some people skills."

His churning flame of a head shrank slightly, and he turned to look at her. "People… skills?"

"Yeah. Offer to give them something they want? Reward them for their troubles… that kind of thing? Any of this ringing a bell?"

"What more reward could they need than to serve me, Dreamslayer, the Lord of the Dimension of Terrors?"

"…you didn't actually _say _that to them, did you?"

"I… of course not. Because that would have been… foolish…" he said, avoiding her gaze.

"Do these people even know who you _are_?"

"Of course they do. How could they not know Dreamslayer, the Lord of-"

Volcana put up her hands. "Neagh! Don't want to hear it again!" She looked over the monitors. "Okay, let's have a look at the reporter woman and the profiler. If you're as famous as you think you are, and then they would know who you were, right?"

"I don't know. Would they?"

"…yes."

"Oh. Very well."

After a quick shake of the head, Volcana turned on the audio for the cell they were being kept in. The camerawoman was cleaning her camera almost out of habit in the corner. The warden was still out cold, although he had been put on the cell bed. The reporter (who Volcana recognised as Linda Park) and the profiler were sat against the wall next to each other.

"_Are you expected back at the police station?"_ she asked hopefully.

The profiler shook his head. _"I was going home right after this. They won't know anything's wrong until tomorrow morning."_

She sighed, and looked around the room. _"Who was that guy, anyway?"_

He shrugged. _"He seems vaguely familiar, but I can't quite remember. Dree… something. It definitely begins with a 'Dree' sound."_

Vindicated, Volcana switched off the audio. "There. If the _police profiler_ doesn't know who you are, then how are _those_ guys supposed to?"

"He said I was vaguely familiar."

"Stop grasping at straws. They don't know you."

"And he knew the beginning of my name…"

"Stop it!"

"Maybe with some clues-"

"Straw grasping! Stop! Villains. Recruit. Remember?"

He paused, and then waved a dismissive hand. "It doesn't matter if they don't know _who _I am. They know _what _I am. They can tell from the way I carry myself. From the way I behave. I am Dreamslayer, the Lord of-"

"Please, not again," she quickly said, the three words almost coming out as one.

"The point is, they should _want _to serve me, regardless of whether they know my name or not."

She sighed and buried her head in her hands. After a few moments silence, she came back up.

"Okay. These guys don't want to serve you. They want money. Women. Power. But mostly the money."

"Women, eh?"

"Yeah, I-" her eyes widened. "Oh, no, no, not me. They don't want me."

"And why not? Are you unattractive by their standards?"

She grit her teeth. "No. But there's a guy in there who _loves _fire. And by extension, he thinks he loves me. I had to work for months with that guy in the Secret Society, and I'm not doing it again."

Dreamslayer sighed overdramatically and looked over the monitors. "Oh, well. I suppose we'll just have to stay here until _I _convince them to join me." He looked at her, the smirk hidden behind his flaming head evident from his voice. "It could take _days_."

Volcana glared at the flaming head. "I hate you."

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(A/N: While it may seem a little silly now, the story will get more serious as we go.

Anyway, reviews welcome!)


	2. Perspective

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Complicated Simplicity**_

**_Chapter Two: Perspective_**

Dreamslayer walked down the dank corridor with his arms behind his back, trying to avoid any puddles while trying to make it look like he wasn't. It was difficult, being the Lord of the Dimension of Terrors.

"All right. If you join me, I will give you more…" he groaned in displeasure. "…_money_ than you can possibly dream of."

Captain Cold, looking thoroughly unimpressed, just sighed from his bunk. "And how," he asked, idly flicking a piece of dirt from his costume, "would you go about doing that?"

"Well… I would… steal it."

He rubbed his eyes beneath his blue spectacles. "From _where_?"

"From… a place… where one would usually get money."

Mirror Master groaned from his cell next door to Colds'. He was leaning against the thick metal cell door with his arms crossed, stood at such an angle that he could see through the small opening that was usually closed shut.

"Does he have _any _idea what he's doing?"

"Doesn't look like it," Captain Boomerang muttered more to himself than anyone else, lying on his bunk with his legs crossed and his hands behind his head.

"Well," the Top added from his cell down the corridor, all the while pacing the small room, "I think he's made a _tip-top_ suggestion."

That elicited a groan from everyone except Dreamslayer.

"Could you _please _stop with the top puns for one moment?" Mirror Master said irritably, glaring down the corridor in hopes of spotting the elitist supervillain.

"Make me, Scudder. As far as I'm concerned, joining up with Dreamslayer here could very well put me on _top of the world_."

Another united groan echoed throughout the Pipeline. Captain Boomerang ejected himself from his bunk and walked over to the small opening in his door.

"Hey, hey. You," he said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Dreamslayer to get his attention.

The Lord of the Dimension of Terrors, happy to actually be spoken to, proudly walked over to Boomerang.

"Yes?"

"Make _'im_ stop with all the bloody top jokes and I'm in."

"I'll agree with that," Weather Wizard yelled from his cell, who up to this point had been silent.

"Very well," Dreamslayer declared, and with a slightly childlike skip in his step, walked over to the Tops' cell. "You! Stop it!"

The Top just looked at him.

"No."

Dreamslayer stared at him for a moment.

He shrugged.

"Well, I tried."

He resumed pacing up and down the corridor with his hands behind his back.

Captain Boomerang stared at him incredulously for a moment. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! That's it?"

The flame-headed villain turned to face him. "What?"

"You just ask him to stop, and when he doesn't, you _give up_?"

"Well, what do you _want _me to do?"

"I don't bloody know, do I? Use your magical crap."

"Well, I can't very well attack one of my own future henchmen, can I? He's the only one who has agreed with me so far!"

"Actually," the Top interjected, "I'm growing ever more regretful about my earlier decision. At no point did I agree to be a 'henchman'."

"What!"

"I was looking for an equal partnership. I am _not _interested in being under the employ of _anyone, _much less some incompetent sideshow magician."

A collection of sniggers, snorts and chuckles echoed from several of the jail cells. Dreamslayer shook with anger.

"Silence!"

He threw out his arms and let out a blinding white flash. All of the Rogues reached for their eyes, trying to protect them from the intense light. Yells of protest and anger came at Dreamslayer.

"What the f-"

"-completely uncalled for-"

"-son of a b-"

"-kill you and your family-"

"-your ass for this!"

Dreamslayer waited for them to calm down before raising a hand. "Now. Are you all done?"

They all yelled their disgust and protest yet again, and Dreamslayer waited, yet again. The noise subsided.

"Done now?"

Silence. Dreamslayer smiled.

"Good. Now, I may not be particularly well versed in what the life forms of this dimension are interested in, but thanks to a colleague of mine, I believe I may be beginning to learn."

Mirror Master and Captain Cold eyed him suspiciously.

"What colleague?" they asked simultaneously, both equally wary.

"Oh, I believe you may like her."

Captain Boomerangs' ears perked up. "'Her', you say?"

Dreamslayer nodded. "Oh, indeed. In fact, I believe you may be so fond of her, you won't have any objection to joining me. I-"

He suddenly stopped and whipped his head around, as though he had heard something. Boomerang and the others looked in the same direction.

"What?"

The flame that burnt in place of Dreamslayers' head seemed to darken, if that were possible.

"The Justice League…" he growled, almost imperceptibly.

However, it was loud enough for Captain Cold to hear.

"The Justice League?"

Weather Wizard, now actually interested in what was going on, stepped up to his door. "Who is it?"

"Is Flash with them?" Mirror Master asked, although he didn't really care that much. He just wanted Dreamslayer to either free them or leave. It occurred to him that they could have all simply played along with Dreamslayer until he had freed them, but seeing as how there were too many unknown factors, such as just how powerful Dreamslayer was, and just how incapacitated the security force had been by their would be leader. He didn't want to be on his way to freedom only to get a bullet in the back of the head.

"I don't know…" Dreamslayer said quietly, although it seemed he wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying. He turned to the door. "Volcana!"

The metal door swung open and clanged against the wall. Trying to walk with as much sway in her hips as she could, Volcana walked over to Dreamslayer. She tried not to show her distaste as she felt the eyes of all the men in the room on her.

Captain Boomerang whistled appreciatively.

"Yes?" she asked Dreamslayer, using her 'husky and steamy' voice.

"The Justice League is here. Or at least, three of them are. So, I'll take care of the League…" he looked around the room before leaning in closer to her. "…while you take of _them_."

And without much further ado, Dreamslayer walked out of the corridor with all the gusto of a king.

Volcana looked around the room. "Hello, boys. I hear you're not coming with us…" She smiled voraciously. "That's a real shame."

Captain Boomerang grinned. "Oi! Cold! Put your tongue back in your mouth! You're a married man!"

"Shut up, Boomer."

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Green Arrow looked up irritably as he heard more water drip down from one of the overhead pipes onto his hat. He reached up and wiped off the small puddle that was gathering there, and found to his dismay that it was some sort of slimy, gooey substance. With a grimace, he wiped it off on his leg. The lighting had become considerably better once they had entered the second corridor, which, while allowing them to put away the flares, had its' (rather disgusting) drawbacks.

"Are we there yet?"

Flash, who was leading the group (since he had been here the most out of all of them), looked around the room, trying to identify something familiar.

"If you keep up that attitude, I'll just turn us around and _no-one_ will get to go on vacation."

He stopped at a door on their left and opened it. It was the boiler room. After a quick check for any air vents or other methods of accessing the rest of the building, he closed the door with an annoyed grunt.

"Now you see why I've complained about this place."

"You mean as in complaining to the authorities?"

The Scarlet Speedster nodded. "I've been talking to the Mayor about it ever since I first heard what was going on."

"And how was that?"

"Linda told me."

"Ah."

They walked down the corridor in silence for a moment.

"And you really think it's such a bad thing?"

Flash turned to face him. "What?"

"The way they treat the Rogues," Arrow said, being sure to use the special nickname that not only the Flash, but the entire world had given the supervillains that resided in Central City.

The speedster looked at him incredulously. "Of course it's a bad thing."

"But after everything they've done, all the people they've killed…"

"What are you trying to say?"

"I don't know," he muttered, crossing his arms. "Just seems like they deserve it, to me."

Flash just stared at him, completely aghast. "They're still _people, _Arrow."

"People who place no value on human life. With criminals like that, you've got to come down on them hard, or they'll go on thinking they can just get away with it over and over again."

"It's not that simple. A lot of these people are messed up-"

"And that gives them an excuse to go around killing people?"

"No, but _because _they're messed up, the harder you come down on a lot of them, the harder they'll bite back."

"So you think we should give them leeway because they might _take offence_ at being punished?"

"Oh, so treating them like animals is the way to go, huh? They deserve to be denied basic human rights? I suppose you think it's okay that the guards are on orders to shoot to kill if the Rogues try to escape?"

Green Arrow gave pause at that. He took a breath. "I think it's fair for the position they're in."

"_What?"_

"They don't have superpowers. These guys can kill people by the dozens without much effort. Under the circumstances-"

"Circumstances, huh? I guess you're gonna tell me it's okay for _us_ to kill our enemies too."

"Of course it is," Orion snorted derisively. "Your usual method of 'dealing' with wrongdoers is a sign of weakness on your part. If I were protector of this city, I would-"

"Yeah, I think I know a little something about your idea of due process," Flash said, dismissing him with a wave of his hand.

The New God came forward with fists clenched, and Arrow stepped in. "Look. We're not judge, jury, and executioner, I agree with that. But there are times when it's… necessary to take things into our own hands."

Flash threw his hands into the air. "I don't believe this! You're actually condoning murder!"

Arrow grit his teeth. "_No_… I said that _sometimes _it's necessary."

"And when is that?" Flash titled his head. "When is it right for us to take another human life?"

The archer took a deep breath. "I just think you're being naïve about this, is all."

"Well, someone's gotta be around here."

He turned and continued on his way.

A little surprised, Arrow looked over at Orion, who merely shrugged. The archer shook his head at the New God and moved on, following Flash down the corridor.

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Linda shifted uncomfortably on the floor of the cell. Thin office skirts may look smart and sexy, but built for lasting comfort? No.

Marla had since decided to take a nap, which had amused Hunter Zolomon greatly. He probably just liked the fact that there was someone who wasn't fazed by any of this 'supervillain taking hostages' thing and _wasn't _crazy.

Although, Linda had her doubts that this flaming head character could really be considered a supervillain. After all, if Hunter Zolomon, a supervillain _profiler_ couldn't remember his name, how super could he be?

A groan from across the room brought her out of her reverie, and she looked over to see Warden Wolfe gradually regaining consciousness. Judging from the rather dark and bloody bruise on his head, Linda guessed that he would most likely have one hell of a headache at the moment. Surprising her, he came up into a sitting position as though he had just been taking a nap.

His eyes registered slight confusion as he took in his surroundings, but he became calm again once he settled his gaze on Linda and Hunter.

"What's going on?"

Linda cocked an eyebrow. "Don't you know?"

The warden shook his head. "The last thing I remember is being in my office when Volcana burst in."

"Volcana?" Hunter asked, confused.

Wolfe nodded. "And then…" He reached up and tenderly touched the bleeding bruise on his right temple. A pained hiss came through clenched teeth as his hand instinctively sprang away. Wolfe looked at the blood on his hand and rubbed his fingers together, his gaze gradually drifting off into the distance.

Hunter and Linda exchanged a look.

"…Wolfe? Are you all right?" Zolomon asked cautiously.

Ignoring the enquiry, Wolfe looked around the room. "Where are we?"

"We don't know. We were knocked unconscious before we were brought here."

He made a disinterested 'mmm' noise before resting back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. "And who exactly _is_ behind all this? I can't believe Volcana would come here by herself."

Linda shrugged. "We didn't even know Volcana was here until you said so."

His piercing gaze once again came to rest on her. "You didn't see Volcana? Then who did you see?"

"We don't know his name."

"Did you see what he looked like?"

"Uh… flaming head, dressed like Dracula…"

"Dreamslayer."

Hunter snapped his fingers. "_That's _it. Dreamslayer. I knew I recognised him."

Wolfe turned his attention to the profiler. "I'm surprised you didn't know, Zolomon. I thought that was your job."

"And I thought it was _yours_ to prevent this kind of thing."

Linda's eyebrows shot up in mild surprise. It seemed there was some history between the two that she was unaware of. Actually, it irked her that she had missed such a thing in her research. It now occurred to her that this was probably the third reason that Hunter had agreed to come with her, if not the only one.

The warden looked over the two, taking in the sight of the awakening Marla in the corner before returning his attention completely to them. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

Linda fished around in her jacket pocket for her ID badge, which she had since taken off while they were in captivity. She showed it Wolfe.

"Linda Park, Channel Four News."

Wolfe groaned and rubbed his aching forehead. "The reporter…"

She smiled sweetly. "You didn't forget I was coming, did you?"

"Forgive me if I had other things on my mind, Ms Park. Believe it or not, I have more important things to worry about than another peppy reporter looking for her 'big break'."

She moved forward as though to launch at him, but Hunter put a calming hand on her shoulder before she could take any action.

"Tactful as ever, I see," Hunter deadpanned.

Wolfe glared at him. "Tactful? I work with some of the worst scum in the world, and you're talking to me about tactful?"

"And you think that excuses the way you treat them?"

"Yes."

Hunter opened his mouth to reply, but, at a loss for words, simply shook his head and looked away.

"Huh. Would you look at that…"

All three occupants of the cell looked over at Marla, who was looking into the camera eyepiece.

"What is it?" Linda asked, crawling over to take a look.

"I was just looking over the footage of what we've done so far today and at the end, there's… well, take a look for yourself."

Curious, Linda took the camera from her long-time companion and looked into the eyepiece. There, in front of the camera, stood Dreamslayer, looking as though he were talking to the camera, all the while gesturing wildly in every direction his body would allow.

"Is he…?"

Marla nodded. "Looks like it. Monologueing."

Linda smiled and shook her head, impressed. "Wow. There hasn't been a villain who did that since…"

"The Penguin," Hunter and Wolfe said at the same time. They promptly shot glares at one another.

"By the way," Marla asked, looking around the room, "have any of you thought of a way out yet?"

No-one replied.

"Just checking." Marla sighed, getting comfortable in the corner of the room for another nap. "Wake me up when you do, okay?"

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"There's a door," Flash said, pointing straight ahead of them. Arrow looked over his fellows' shoulder, and there was indeed a door at the end of the corridor. The speedster opened it and stepped through, gesturing for his companions to follow a few seconds after.

"Well…" the speedster said, looking around. "I'm pretty sure _this _wasn't here the last time I came."

They were in a small cube-shaped room, with doors on each wall. There was barely enough room for all of them to stand in it.

"Which one?" Orion asked.

Flash shrugged. "Dunno."

"Somehow I don't think this is usually here," Arrow commented.

"A door each, then?"

He nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

Without another word, Orion opened the door on the right and went in. Flash and Arrow exchanged a nod before they took the door straight ahead and on the left, respectively.

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Orion stepped through and heard the door close behind him. He had entered a room exactly like the one he had just left. A growl on his lips, he turned around to go back and opened the door. Behind the door was a solid brick wall. The growl now a full grown New Gods curse, Orion brought back his fist and slammed it through the wall. He stepped through the newly created hole.

Except it wasn't the room he had been in just a few seconds before with Green Arrow and Flash. It was exactly the same shape, except it was simply four walls. No doors, nothing.

The New God cracked his knuckles and smirked. "If you think trickery is going to stop me, let me assure you… you are in for a rude shock," he announced to his enemy, wherever he or she may have been.

He swung his fist forward and got to work.

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Flash stepped through the door and entered another corridor just like before, except this time, he could see the door at the end. He raced towards it, and frowned as he realised he wasn't getting any closer to it. A quick check left and right at the blurred walls confirmed that he was moving, and yet… the door was no closer.

He skid to a halt and looked back. He had travelled away from the other door, at least. After another quick glance back down the corridor, Flash shot back to the door from whence he came.

Now _that _door was getting no closer. Flash stopped and groaned.

_Frickin' magic._

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Green Arrow, meanwhile, was confronted with much the same problem as Orion. All four doors, exactly the same. Except they all seemed to be locked.

_Good thing I'm not claustrophobic_.

He prepared his bow and arrow and picked a door. He kicked it down and yelped in alarm as he almost fell into black nothingness.

_Although I do have that problem with heights…_

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(A/N: In the comics, the Rogues are a bit more serious than presented here, but I actually like the slightly 'The Tick'-ish approach to the villains that 'Flash and Substance' had. I mean, Weather Wizard (Gorilla Grodd aside) is pretty much the only Flash rogue they did seriously in the DCAU, and look how boring he turned out to be. I'll be introducing one of the more serious (and nasty) Rogues later in the story, anyway.

And besides, the Top actually _does _make that many top puns.

Review!)


	3. Changing

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Complicated Simplicity**_

_**Chapter Three: Changing**_

Green Arrow closed the door as fast as he could and backed up, falling through the other door behind him.

His eyes widened as he saw the same empty blackness there as well. With a yelp, he scrambled to grab the doorframe, and latched on with the very tips of his fingers.

After a grunt of effort, he managed to pull himself into the small room. He took a few deep breaths before looking over at the third and final door.

_Oh, what the hell._

He walked forward and opened the door, only to be confronted with the same black nothingness as behind the other doors. He sighed.

"I'll just go back, then…"

He turned and opened the door through which he had first entered the room.

And ended up once more scrambling to get away from the same blackness.

A low growl escaped his lips, and Arrow put his fingers to his earpiece, only to get nothing.

"Flash? Orion? T?"

Nothing. Not even static.

He sighed and sat down cross-legged in the middle of the room.

Now, it wasn't that he was afraid of heights per se – his line of work sort of dictated that he couldn't be – but he drew the line at falling blindly into nothing. Of course, it wasn't heights that were his problem here. It was magic.

Stupid.

Freaking.

Magic.

Green Arrow didn't like magic. He didn't like the majority of magic users, truth be told. They always spoke in such a grandiose and 'I understand things that are far beyond your comprehension' way he couldn't help but dislike them. Except for Zatanna, of course, but Arrow didn't know many male Leaguers who didn't enjoy her company.

It gave him and Clark something to talk about, at least.

The Emerald Archer brought his head up and looked at the four doors that surrounded him. Curious, he opened them all, one after the other, being sure to leave them all open.

Now on all fours, he slowly crawled to the edge of the doorway in front of him and poked his head through. There was no noise to accompany the blackness, nor anything physically different than the room he was in already. No drop in temperature or air.

Cautiously, he leaned his head down so he could see 'underneath' the room he was now stood in. He half expected his head to collide with a disguised floor, and so was surprised when his head went all the way down. What was strange was that he couldn't see the bottom of the small box shaped room.

He tried the other doors in a similar fashion. All exactly the same, except he couldn't find any evidence of the room existing from the outside looking in. Arrow got to his feet and crossed his arms, bowing his head in thought. He didn't have many options. Only two sprang to mind, in fact; either wait here, or step out into the nothingness.

A sigh escaped his lips. It wasn't really much of a choice. Arrow pinched his nose, scrunched his eyes shut, and bombed out the doorway in front of him.

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He ran up and down the corridor over and over again. The doors were still moving away from him no matter how he tried to approach them. He tried running towards them backwards, sideways… even one failed attempt upside down with his head between his legs, and still nothing.

"Oh, come on… now it's getting stupid…"

With a sigh, he tried to call the others once again. Still no response. Not that he expected any; when it came to magic, Flash never really knew what to do. He just did the best he could, which usually didn't amount to much because said magic would fool him into thinking he was covered in snakes or something.

Flash rested his hands in front of him on the wall of the corridor. Well, the corridor was still there. And relatively real, from what he could tell.

A familiar smirk crossed his features.

And if it was real, he could probably have some kind of effect on it.

He stepped back from the wall and took a deep breath. Usually, he didn't enjoy vibrating his molecules through solid objects, and saved it for when he really had to. Firstly, it had the nasty habit of making things explode once he had passed through them. Secondly, it took a lot of concentration and effort to get through anything without making it explode. Thirdly, because of said concentration, it took him a long time to do. And fourthly, and perhaps most importantly, it gave him one mother of a headache afterwards.

His friends and colleagues didn't quite understand what he was complaining about until he explained the symptoms to them. At which point, they compared it to a hangover and stopped scolding him for being 'whiny'. Of course, that was now. Way back when, he used to be able to get through objects with little to no complaint. Those who knew about his powers attributed the new side effects to his getting older and more powerful, though Wally wasn't sure. He just figured it was God or Fate or whatever having a laugh at his expense.

He shook his hands to loosen up his wrists, and hopped from foot to foot to warm up. With that done, he moved on to the main event. Crimson gloved hands pressed against the corridor wall, and he began to move them back forth across the surface in quick, short movements. He built up the speed until the wall began to crumble to dust beneath his ministrations. Wally smiled. Hopefully the wall would fall apart before he'd even have to vibrate through.

The small puffs of dust became an overpowering cloud, and Flash instinctively scrunched his eyes shut and held his breath. He kept on pushing forward.

He was definitely making headway. The wall was old and practically dissolving away in front of him. Hopefully it wasn't supporting the ceiling.

Wally thought he heard someone coughing and quickly stopped himself in mid-vibrate. His feet continued forward, however, and tripped on a small piece of wall that had fallen to the floor. Flash fell face forward into Green Arrow, the two tumbling around each other into a huge embarrassing pile.

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A blue gloved fist smashed through yet another wall, and Orion halted in his advance to take a breath. Several, actually, though he wouldn't admit it, even to himself. It was the magic draining his strength… yes, that was it. He shouldn't be this tired just from smashing through thirty-four walls.

Why, he had taken down five air-tanks from Apokolips by himself. He could handle some _walls_, magic induced or not.

But then again, that fight _was _a long time ago… many years…

Could it be possible? Could it be possible that he was simply… getting old?

Orion shook his head, the movement jarring loose a bead of sweat that had been gathering on his forehead. It trickled down between his eyebrows and over his nose. He irritably wiped it away and cracked his knuckles, ignoring the pain from his hands as he did so.

He cricked his neck and punched through another wall with a single blow. A grim smile crossed his face as he saw another wall behind that one.

The son of Highfather continued on.

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"I don't believe this. All you had to do was knock down a wall? I had to jump out into God knows what. _And _I ended up landed on my ass. Do you know how hard these floors are?"

Flash shrugged, looking around the office they had wandered into. "Hey, it's not my fault I got the easy one."

"That's another thing that's bothering me," Arrow said, scowling, "I'm getting sick and tired of this guy-"

"-or gal-"

"-or gal," he corrected, "not showing his-"

"-or her-"

"-or her face. I mean, if they meant business, they wouldn't hide behind illusions, would they?" He looked around and leaned closer to Flash. "And thanks for the corrections."

"We've gotta be PC in times like these. Especially for the guys-"

"-or gals-"

"I was gonna!" Flash protested. "Or _gals_," he emphasised, giving Arrow a look, "that hide from us while they shake in their little booties."

A blinding flash of light stopped any further berating of their hidden enemy as Dreamslayer came forward.

"Enough! _Afraid_, am I? Shaking in my little booties, am I?"

He paused.

"What are booties?"

Flash and Green Arrow exchanged a glance. The archer pointed to Dreamslayer's boots.

"They're what you're wearing on your feet."

"Oh." He took a moment to look down at his boots before whipping his gaze back up to them. "Well, _I _am not the one who is shaking in my booties! You will be the ones who-"

Flash raised a hand. "You changed tenses, dude."

"What?"

"Oh yeah," Arrow said, nodding, "you can't just change from present to future tense in one speech."

"It's not proper," Flash added.

"I…" Dreamslayer's head-flame flared up violently. "SILENCE!"

The speedster folded his arms. "Dude, who the heck are you, anyway?"

Dreamslayer struck a pose. "Think back. I am sure that your comrade, Green Lantern, told you of me."

"Um…" he looked over at Arrow, who just shrugged. The two had a murmured conference before turning back to Dreamslayer.

Flash shrugged and shook his head. "Nope. Sorry."

"Are you sure?" the villain asked smugly, dramatically grabbing his cape and holding it around in him in a Batman-esque movement. "He didn't tell you of how I almost defeated him in battle?"

Arrow stepped forward. "Buddy, trust me. I think we'd remember you."

"Ah HA!" Dreamslayer yelled, pointing a triumphant finger at Green Arrow.

The two heroes glanced at each other, equally confused. Arrow turned back to their would-be opponent.

"Ah ha… what?"

"I… you admit that I… that I am a villain to remember!"

"…well, you're certainly… unique."

"Then surely you must know who I am?"

Both Leaguers gave him blank stares.

"No? Nothing?" They shook their heads. Dreamslayer scowled at them imperceptibly beneath his flaming head. "Come, come…" He rotated his hand. "Drrr?… Drrr? Drrr?"

Flash cocked an eyebrow. "Your name's 'Drrr Drrr Drrr?"

"I- NO! I am… guiding you to my name."

"Oh, okay… so it begins with like a 'Drrr' sound."

"Exactly."

"Right, right. Uh… 'Drink Problem'?"

Arrow took his turn. "'Drama Queen'?"

"'Drummer'"?

"'Drak-?"

"ENOUGH! Dreamslayer! Dreamslayer, my name is _Dreamslayer!"_

The pair looked at each other.

"Oh, _Dreamslayer…"_ Flash said, nodding.

"Ah, so you have heard of me," he replied smugly.

"No. Dude, sorry, but… you're kinda low key."

"You… you're lying! Dreamslayer!"

The two shook their heads.

"Lord of… the Dimension of… Terrors?"

"Sorry," they said simultaneously.

"But… but I am Dreamslayer!"

Flash groaned and rubbed his forehead. "Why can't we ever, _ever_ get any hot babe supervillains? Why do we always get…" He gestured to Dreamslayer irritably. "…_this?"_

Green Arrow grinned, and Dreamslayer's flame grew to epic proportions.

"Stop it! Enough! No-one mocks Dreamslayer, the Lord of the Dimension of Terrors!"

Faster than either of them could react, a burst of flame energy lashed out and knocked Flash back and into a wall, cracking the notice board hung there in half. Arrow reached back for an arrow but was knocked back onto a desk, breaking it in half and sending various office supplies into the air.

Dreamslayer put his hands on his hips. "Ha! Who's laughing now?" He laughed. "Me! That's who's laughing!"

He was laughing so hard, he didn't notice that Orion had broken down the wall behind him and was making his way over to him. A heavy hand tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned in mid-laugh to be greeted by Orion's waiting fist and sent flying through the air.

Flash groaned and looked up in time to see Dreamslayer as he sailed through the air towards him. He quickly moved out of the way and winced as Dreamslayer slammed into the wall with a thud. The flame headed villain looked up to see Orion charging at him, his gloved hands worn and bloody from smashing through imaginary wall after imaginary wall. The New God jumped at him, knocking them both through the wall and into the adjacent corridor.

The speedster bent over, resting his hands on his knees as he looked through the hole created by his colleague. All he could hear was the various noises of an angry Orion wailing on Dreamslayer. Green Arrow made his way over to him, his hand on his sore back. Flash glanced over at him.

"I don't think we have to worry about Mr Dragon Slacker anymore."

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Captain Cold winced. Boomerang was practically slobbering through the door at their new visitor. Not that Cold could blame him; it had been a while since any of them had seen a woman in the flesh, not to mention one so damned… alluring.

But for God's sake, he expected Boomer to have a little bit more self control (and respect) than that.

"So," Boomer enquired, using his 'husky' voice. "If I was gonna join up, what kind of… perks would I get?"

Volcana leaned against the door and moved her head forward so that their noses were practically touching.

"Well…" she replied quietly, "that would depend on the… _effort… _you'd put in."

Cold smirked. It was somewhat entertaining to see someone who could give as good as she got when it came to Boomer's sleazy advances.

The entire cell block suddenly shook, and Cold looked to the ceiling.

"Well. Seems the Justice League is causing more trouble than your friend thought, hmm?" the Top said smugly. For once, Cold shared his sentiments.

Volcana's previously seductive expression turned to a surprisingly frightening scowl, and she ran out of the room, heading for the door.

"Must have been your breath, Digger," Weather Wizard said, smirking.

"Oh, blow it out your arsehole."

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The red haired villainess' scowl deepened as she saw what was going on through the surveillance cameras. Flash and Green Arrow were wandering the corridors while Orion continued to knock Dreamslayer around (and occasionally through) the entire building, the flame headed villains' blasts having seemingly no effect on him. Faster than a speeding locomotive as Superman may be, it seemed that Orion was as unstoppable as a juggernaut.

She checked on the location on the other two Leaguers. They weren't close to the hostages yet. Good. She searched the control panel in front of her, looking for some sort of mass cell door release. Finding nothing, she shrugged.

"What the hell."

She grabbed the microphone for the intercom and switched it on.

"Mr Lord of the Dimension of Terrors blew it, boys! Time for plan B!"

Volcana took a few steps back and fried the security console, hoping it would have the desired effect. From what she could hear, the inmates certainly weren't looking their gift horse in the mouth.

She ran out of the door and to Warden Wolfe's office. If she was going to do anything today, she was going to make it out of here, no matter what methods she had to use.

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The lights flickered for a moment, and Flash and Green Arrow heard a loud series of clanging noises echo down the corridor they were exploring.

"That's never a good noise," Arrow observed, and Flash nodded silently, keeping his ear pointed forward to check for noise.

A faint roaring noise came from what seemed like below them, and Flash's eyes widened slightly beneath his mask.

"I'm guessing Drunken Singer wasn't alone."

"Why?"

"Because somebody just released all the inmates."

Flash disappeared in a blur, and Arrow instantly put his fingers to his earpiece. "Hey, T?"

"_Watchtower here."_

"Somebody's released all the inmates. Flash is heading down there now, but he'll need some backup."

"_Understood. They're on their way."_

"Gotcha. Thanks, T."

He continued on, increasing his pace to a sprint as he headed for the nearest window overlooking the courtyard.

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Flash skidded to a halt at the armoury door, hoping to find some tear gas or something he could use against the escaping inmates. He knocked lightly on it and let out a grunt of annoyance as he saw the door was made of solid steel, or some other metal that was just as strong.

A control panel next to the door caught his eye and he started punching away on buttons. About five seconds into his attempt, he noticed a card slot above the number pad and scowled. He turned and shot off to Warden Wolfe's office, hoping to find the Warden, or better yet, just his security card.

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The inmates moved through the courtyard to the gates like a swarm of ants towards a picnic.

Three shafts of blue light appeared on the other side of the gate, signifying the arrival of more members of the Justice League. The inmates kept on going, prepared for whatever no-name superheroes the League had decided to send their way.

A familiar blue costume and a red cape made them practically fall over each other as they stopped in their tracks.

"You might want to think about what you do next."

Superman floated above them from behind the gate, his arms crossed before him and his eyes lit up with the threat of heat vision. Vigilante smiled behind the Kryptonian, having seen him use that same scare technique many a time on some hapless criminal. He even remembered one incident when a bank robber was so scared, the poor guy wet himself. A quick glance in Ice's direction indicated that she wasn't particularly interested in the Man of Steel's scare tactics, and was focused on the situation at hand.

Noticing the inmates gathering their courage, he decided he should do the same, and whipped out his pistols and whirled them around his fingers, getting ready for the brawl that was to come.

A blast of ice came through the crowd and nailed Superman dead center in the chest, knocking him back before he regained his ground. Ice took control of the blast and redirected it down into the ground, eliciting a smile and nod of gratitude from the Man of Steel.

The inmates parted to reveal the escaped and re-armed Rogues making their way towards the Justice Leaguers.

Superman looked to his two compatriots before charging over the gates and into the crowd.

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Flash stopped in the corridor when he noticed that Warden Wolfe's door was ajar. He cautiously made his way forward, his back to the wall.

Suddenly, Volcana emerged and quickly spotted him, although one arm remained inside the office.

The speedster grinned and nodded. "Now, y'see, that's what I'm talking about; hot babe super villain."

A smirk was her only response, and she pulled her missing arm into view.

Flash's grin disappeared, replaced by a shocked gape.

Linda struggled against the much stronger woman's grip, but quickly settled down when Volcana flared up her hands menacingly, bathing the entire corridor in a devilish orange light.

"Back off, speedy."

He grit his teeth. "Let her go."

"You're kidding, right? Yeah. I'm going to give up my only ticket out of this mess. Right."

"I said. Let. Her. Go."

"Kiss my ass. Now, _you're_ going to leave me alone, and your buddies out _there_ are going to do the same thing, or she…" Volcana's smirk intensified with the flame coming from her hand, "But I don't _really _have to explain it, do I?"

The sweat was dripping from Linda's chin now, and she almost seemed mesmerised by the small flickering inferno being held so close to her face. She glanced out of the corner of her eye into Wolfe's office, hoping that at least one of the three people inside had regained consciousness by now.

Hunter Zolomon groaned once, but didn't move.

Flash, meanwhile, was clenching his fists so tightly he was surprised his fingernails hadn't broken through his gloves.

"Last chance. Let her go. NOW."

She tilted her head mockingly. "What're you gonna do? Even you can't-"

He blasted forward, and Linda heard a crunch as his fist collided with Volcana's chin and sent her hurtling back, smashing into the wall behind her face first. Flash was on her again in a second, pinning her to the wall with one hand while bringing back the other, intent on finishing the job.

A scowl creased his mask as he saw that Volcana was smiling, seemingly indifferent about her bruised and bleeding face.

His eyes narrowed. "What's so funny? Huh?"

She just continued smiling, her shoulders bobbing up and down weakly as she began laughing.

Anger overriding all his judgement, Flash brought back his fist. He swung it forward-

"Flash!"

He stopped his hand a hair's breadth from Volcana's face upon hearing Arrow's voice.

"Think about it, Flash."

Gentle hands wrapped around his shaking fist, and Flash lowered his arm and unclenched his fist. He turned to Linda, who was still holding on to his arm. He sighed and closed his eyes.

"…sorry…" he muttered quietly. Without another word, he dashed into Wolfe's office, took his security card, and shot off down the corridor, heading to the armoury.

Linda looked over at the brutalised Volcana as Arrow cuffed her, shock written on her features.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded blankly to Arrow's inquiry, and he went into the Warden's office to check on the other hostages.

"They're okay," she said, tearing her eyes away from Volcana. "She just knocked them over the head."

He nodded mutely, preoccupied.

"That wasn't normal, was it?"

Arrow sighed and shook his head, looking at anything else in the room except her. "I hope not."

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(A/N:

A few notes:

One: For those of you who have noticed (and those who haven't), yes, Dreamslayer and Volcana's characterisations are somewhat based on Dr Drakken and Shego from _Kim Possible_. Dreamslayer and Drakken are voiced by the same guy, so… you can understand why the temptation was great. ;)

Two: Flash doesn't have much trouble vibrating through things in the comics, but I wanted him powered down to a more reasonable level, much like was done to Superman in his show.

Three: In the more recent comics, Captain Cold is usually perceived as the leader of the Rogues (and not married to a wife that would have him 'bagging groceries for a living' to repay the mortgage :)), while Captain Boomerang (just before he died, that is), was shown as being a little bit of a loser in the supervillain community, showing up to ask his ex-colleagues for loans and so on. So I wanted to put some 'starting points' for those developments here. I'm not saying I'll go there (and certainly not in this story), but I like putting little elements from the comics in my stories, hence, for example, Weather Wizard calling Boomerang Digger (his real name).

Anyway, review!)


	4. Out with the Old

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Complicated Simplicity**_

_**Chapter Four: Out with the Old…**_

Orion flinched and once again pulled his hands away from the nurse that had been sent down from the Watchtower, who was becoming increasingly impatient.

"Would you hold still?"

"Perhaps if I was given a competent nurse, I would."

"_Perhaps_ if you stopped whining like a four year old every time somebody touched your hands, you'd _have _a competent nurse. Now stop being a baby and _hold still_."

The New God and the nurse launched into yet another staring contest, with neither backing down.

Green Arrow and Hunter Zolomon watched the battle from a distance, the former thoroughly amused while the latter perplexed. He leaned towards Arrow.

"Is he always like this?"

"I don't work with him."

A brown eyebrow shot up. "At all?"

"Well, whenever I have a choice I don't." He gave Zolomon a wink.

Orion relented to the nurse, holding up his hands for inspection. He whipped his head around to look at Green Arrow, hoping to transfer his irritation with the nurse onto someone else.

"Where's the Flash?"

The archer shrugged. "After he took down Volcana he helped Supes and the others with the riot. He just ran off after that."

Zolomon look over at him. "Is he all right?"

Arrow looked troubled. "Don't know. It got pretty tense with Volcana."

"I heard. He almost tried to kill her, didn't he? What happened?"

The archer opened his mouth to explain, but then realised who he was talking to. "It's personal. Sorry."

Zolomon nodded understandingly. "But still… it doesn't seem like him."

Arrow frowned. "I know." His gaze moved across the half destroyed courtyard of the prison before landing on Linda Park, who was leant against the side of a Channel 9 news van. Her eyes stared into the distance unwaveringly, her mind obviously elsewhere as she absentmindedly toyed with a piece of rubble in her hand. Arrow gave a sidelong glance to Hunter. "Excuse me."

The archer made his way over to the up and coming ace reporter. He looked around, but he couldn't see her camerawoman. He guessed she was probably in the van.

"Hey. You okay?"

She blinked once, but still kept her gaze forward. "Hm?"

Arrow smiled. "Are you okay?"

A small noise, almost like a laugh, escaped her lips. "Oh, sure. Being kidnapped? No problem. Being held captive in a prison by perhaps _the _most incompetent super criminal of all time? Easy. But I draw the line at seeing my-" she stopped herself. "-at seeing _the Flash_ in a murderous rage over me."

The archer shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I don't think it was that serious."

"No?" She looked over at him. "Have you ever had to talk him down before? Has anyone?"

He didn't reply. His only response was a frown that steadily deepened.

"Thought so."

"It's… it's not that simple. There's lots of reasons he could've-"

His earpiece bleeped for attention. With an irritated groan, he brought his fingers to his ear.

"Yeah?"

It was the commanding voice of Mr Terrific that replied, rather than the soothing tones of J'onn J'onnz. Not that Arrow was surprised – the Martian rarely took monitor duty to the extent he had before his sabbatical.

"_Status report, Arrow."_

"All the super powered Rogues are safely in custody, but at least a dozen or so inmates are still unaccounted for."

"_You'll have to leave them to the police. I need you six up here; there are some assignments that need tending to."_

"That's fine, except you've only got three right now."

"_Three? What happened?"_

"Orion's injured, as you know, Flash is AWOL, and Superman's out looking for him."

"_Flash is gone? Why?"_

"There was an… incident."

A brief hint of a smile crossed Linda's face as she tossed the small piece of rubble up into the air and caught it again. She repeated the process, and Arrow's eyes followed the rock as Mr Terrific continued talking.

"_Well, I want you up here. Get ready for transport."_

"Gotcha." He brought his hand back down as he looked at Linda. "You going to be okay?"

She snatched the rock out of the air as it came back down again. "Just find him, would you?"

The archer smiled. "I'll do my best, ma'am."

And with that, the four superheroes and the nurse vanished in a blur of white-blue light. The back of the Channel 9 news van opened, and Marla poked her head out.

"Hey. D'you wanna see the footage I got?"

Linda looked around the courtyard, and she saw Hunter Zolomon near the building, discussing something or other with some police officers. Her idle gazing continued, crossing the mammoth prison in all its haunting glory.

"Linda?"

"Yeah, I'm coming." The reporter made her way into the van, trying to ignore Warden Wolfe staring at her from his office window.

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The doors hissed open in a manner still both alien and familiar to Shayera. While such technology on Thanagar was commonplace, the doors still made a slightly different noise when they opened and closed. It was a small thing, but it was still something that bothered her from time to time.

At the present moment, however, she wasn't too concerned about the noise of the doors in the Watchtower. Her attention was focused solely on the teleporter pad in front of her. As she walked through the command center and towards the pad, she exchanged nods with various members of staff and an awkward smile with Hawkman, who was busy at work on one of the many workstations littered around the place. She still wasn't sure how to behave around him, and from the look of things, he was having a similar problem.

The teleporter hummed to life, and five beams of light came into existence, giving way to the figures of Green Arrow, Vigilante, Ice and Orion, who was accompanied by a rather impatient looking nurse. Although, since she was being forced to work on Orion, Shayera was hardly surprised at the nurse's demeanour.

The other Leaguers went their separate ways as Mr Terrific called them up to the observation platform above them. Shayera pulled Arrow aside as he descended down the stairs.

"How is he?"

Arrow shrugged. "I'd have to know _where _he is to know that."

"He left?"

"After helping contain the breakout, he took off. Superman's out looking for him."

"Did he say anything?"

A shake of the head was his only response.

"Do you think he's in trouble?" a low baritone of a voice enquired, and Shayera turned to see Hawkman stood beside her. In response to their questioning looks, Hawkman smiled and shrugged. "We… had a lunch date."

Arrow was silent for a moment. "… I don't think he's in trouble. He… just needs some time to think. At least, that's what I'd guess he's doing after what happened with Volcana."

Shayera was already on her way to a workstation. Her hands moving like a blur over the controls, she patched into Superman's communicator frequency.

"Superman, this is Shayera."

"_Go ahead."_

"Have you found him yet?"

A pause. _"No."_

"Do you even know where he went?"

"_If I knew that, I wouldn't be looking, would I?"_

Shayera brought her head back in surprise at the sharpness of the remark. She quickly recovered and dove right back in, her face twisted into the 'Hawkgirl scowl' that all those close to her had learnt to fear.

"There's no need to bite my head off. This may come as a surprise to you, but we-"

"_I know. Sorry."_

Not used to being interrupted in mid-rant by an apology, Shayera found herself stopping short, looking slightly disappointed and more than a little confused. "That's… okay."

"_Look, I'll… tell you if I find anything."_

She sighed. "Maybe you should just call it a day. If he wanted to be found, he'd let us know."

"_But you didn't-"_ He grunted in annoyance. _"Hang on a second…"_

An even longer pause than before ensued. A decidedly un-Superman-ly voice yelled in the distance.

"_You ain't gonna get me, I-"_

A noise akin to someone being slapped came over the com link, quickly followed by a grunt. Superman's voice resumed as though nothing had happened.

"_-you didn't see the look on his face. It was like he was… horrified."_ His voice quietened, losing its usual commanding presence._ "I've never seen him like that."_

Shayera thought for a moment. "All right. You leave it alone. My shift at the Metro Tower doesn't start for another two hours, and Mr Terrific wants you back up here."

"_But-"_

"No buts. I know some places where he might've gone, which will be a lot quicker than you x-raying the entire city from above. Capishe?"

Hawkman and Green Arrow exchanged a look. The archer mouthed 'capishe?' to Hawkman, who merely shrugged cluelessly.

The Man of Steel was apparently equally bemused. _"Um… capishe. And tell Mr Terrific I've found one of the escaped inmates."_

Shayera nodded, satisfied. "Right." And with that, she switched off the communicator. She turned to face the two behind her. "Now-" she paused when she saw their expressions. "What?"

The men exchanged another look. Green Arrow decided to bite the bullet and ask.

"…Capishe?"

"What? I heard Wildcat saying it. It's not important. It doesn't matter. I'm going now."

Arrow put up his hands in defeat. "Wish I could help, but I've got an appointment with another pretty bird. Tell me if you find him, okay?"

Shayera nodded. "Right."

The archer turned on his heel and set off towards the door at a leisurely pace, whistling as he went.

Hawkman smiled helpfully at Shayera. "I'm sure he's all right."

She nodded, the concern still etched in her features.

"I get off my shift in ten minutes, if you'd like some help."

"That-" Shayera paused, holding back her instinctive response of refusing. "That'd be nice." She offered a smile. "Thanks."

"Not a problem."

The teleporter suddenly sprang to life, and two beams of light appeared. In mid-materialisation, Shayera could make out a youthful voice talking excitedly about something, and she flew up next to the pad.

"Flash?" She said, a smile on her lips.

The confused form of Gear appeared in front of her, accompanied by Static.

"Um… no. Nice to have you happy to see me, though."

Static groaned and shook his head. He poked his partner in crime fighting in the arm irritably, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. "Dude, just come on. We're late enough as it is."

Gear gave a cheery smile and a wave to Shayera as he followed Static on the way to the Atom's lab.

"Yeah, but it's not like it's our fault this time. I mean, how do you predict a giant egg attacking the city?"

"Couldn't you make something for that?"

"What, like an egg detector?"

"No… a _giant egg _detector. A normal egg detector would just be stupid."

The conversation continued until they were out of the command center. Shayera rubbed her forehead.

"It's no wonder they're still in training…" She looked over at Hawkman. "Why are they here, anyway?"

"Ray's working on some sort of time travel device they confiscated from a criminal. Timecode, I think. They want to get it down to the Metro Tower, but the only way they can do that is with the teleporter. And apparently those two know more about the device than anyone else."

Shayera nodded. "And how do _you _know this?"

"Ray told me."

"Oh."

"Anyway, you get started, and I'll join the search as soon as I can."

Shayera nodded again. "Right."

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Jack pulled in his coat around him as he waited at the door, looking nervously up and down the alleyway.

"C'mon man, open up."

He had only just arrived in Bludhaven after a few hours of a train journey. It was strange how life worked out. Jack had woken up in the morning in prison, thinking it would just be another day in the slammer. Then alarms started going off. Then the cell doors opened. Then the prison gates opened.

And now, here he was in Bludhaven, the last place that _anyone _would suspect him to be. He didn't have to worry about the police, but of course, that wasn't why he was nervous. There were rumours of some nut in a costume being around these parts, but no-one had seen or heard anything concrete about him. At least, no-one that Jack knew of. Some people said it was the Batman. Others said it was Superman getting tired of being the Boy Scout.

All Jack knew was that he didn't want to be out in the open too long, whether or not his grey trench coat was covering his orange prison garb or not.

He impatiently knocked on the door again.

"C'mon!"

After a few seconds, the door slowly opened, revealing the gaunt features of Dr Michael Amar, the best black market plastic surgeon that illegal money could buy. And, thanks to some money handily embezzled and tucked away at his ex-girlfriend's apartment (that even she didn't know about), cash was something Jack had plenty of.

Amar's mouth was hidden by a surgical mask which had become a nigh on legendary look for him. If someone said surgical mask, you instantly thought Michael Amar.

"Cm in," he said, his words sounding short and cut off under the muffling surgical mask.

Jack did as he was told and entered. Instantly, he was impressed. The operating table before him looked almost like a professional hospital. None of the disturbing flickering lights and dank conditions he had been expecting in the back of his mind.

"Okay, doc, I'm kind of in a hurry here, so let's make this quick. I've got the money, you've got the skills. Make me look different already."

Amar simply stood there, staring at him. In the full light, Jack could now make out just how deathly pale and thin the Doctor was. Jack wondered how he could hold a scalpel steady with such weak looking hands.

"Tk off yr shrt, pls."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah…"

"Nw lay dn."

Jack did as he was told and lay down on the operating table. Amar walked over and wrapped two leather straps around his around his wrists and locked them shut with the latches, akin to what were used for a mental patient's bed.

"Hey… what're you doin'?"

"Pls rlx. All undr contrl."

"But, uh…"

Amar tied up his legs as well.

"Are you sure that-?"

His words caught in his throat as he saw Amar approaching his face with a scalpel.

"Uh… don't you need to use like an anaesthetic or something?"

Amar removed his surgical mask. Jack's eyes widened. He was too horrified to even scream. Amar's lips were stitched together, clamped shut. He put his finger to his mutilated lips as he brought the scalpel down with his other hand.

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Flash leant back on the sofa and stared up at the ceiling, his cowl pulled back and a heavy sigh on his lips.

"I don't know… am I going crazy here, or what?"

"You're not going crazy, Wally," Raven replied, her voice taking on a soothing tone not heard by many from the dark empath.

Cyborg nodded as he sat down next to Flash and handed him a mug of coffee. "Yeah, man. It's just something you have to go through in our line of work."

"Really? You mean… you guys have had this kind of thing before?"

He nodded. "Oh, yeah. I mean, it's nice to think we can keep up this nice and bright superhero thing, but… y'know, the world's not like that. There're some nasty things out there."

Raven took a sip of her tea. "We had to contend with the decision when it came to Slade."

Flash looked at her sardonically. "You mean _Dick _had to contend with it, and you had to watch."

Cyborg shrugged. "At least he talked to us about it. That's somethin'."

"It's a hard choice," Raven said, setting her tea down on the table. "Do you let a criminal live, showing that you're not like them while still running the risk that they could kill innocent people… or do you kill them and end it then and there, at the risk of losing control yourself? It's a slippery slope. You convince yourself it's all right to kill one criminal, soon you're giving yourself reasons to kill jaywalkers."

The speedster sighed and stared into his coffee. "Yeah, but it's not just all that. I mean… I was ready to kill Volcana."

"But you didn't," Cyborg replied.

"Yeah, but, I was ready to."

"_But _you didn't. Look, Wally, I know you're feelin' guilty about this. I probably would too, if it was me. But the fact is, you wanted to, and you didn't. It's a normal reaction to seeing someone you care about in danger."

"But I've never had that before. Not like this, anyway. I mean, how is this different?"

"Because Linda doesn't have any superpowers," Raven interjected. Flash looked over at her, curious.

"Huh?"

"Linda's your first _serious _relationship with someone who doesn't have any powers. You've never had to live with the fear of what could happen to your loved ones, at least not to that extent. When it was anyone else, you would worry, yes, but a part of you would know that they had superpowers and could take care of themselves."

Cyborg 'hmm'ed his agreement. "There's no doubt about it, man. It's a tough choice. I just wish we could you help you more than just sayin' 'it's something you've gotta do for yourself'… but it kind of is."

Flash shrugged. "Well, I-"

The control panel beeped in front of them, indicating an incoming call. Mr Terrific's voice came through the speakers.

"_Watchtower to Titans Tower. Come in. I repeat, Watchtower to Titans Tower, come in."_

The speedster sighed and smiled wearily, pulling on his cowl. "Time to face the music, I guess." He slowly walked over to the control panel and accepted the call. "Hey. This is Flash."

Mr Terrific's voice gave way to Green Lantern's irritated tones. _"Flash! Where've you been? Shayera and Superman have been looking all over Central City for you!"_

"_And Hawkman," _Mr Terrific added, although Lantern just seemed to ignore that. _"Switch your com link back on, and we'll teleport you up."_

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." He turned to his two friends as he switched on the earpiece. "See you guys later." He was interrupted mid-wave as he was teleported up to the Watchtower.

He rematerialised on the teleporter pad only for it to appear as though he was waving to B'wana Beast, who was waiting to use the teleporter. After returning the wave with a somewhat confused expression, B'wana made his way onto the teleporter pad while Flash stepped off.

"Flash!"

Wearily, the speedster looked up as John Stewart, the Green Lantern for Sector 2814, came in for a landing.

"Where were you? You don't just disappear after a mission! And you certainly don't turn off your communicator so we can't find you!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I just… needed some time to think."

"You can do that up here. Why were you at Titans Tower, anyway?"

"I…" Flash paused, knowing how it would sound. "I needed someone to talk to."

John didn't say anything. He just nodded as he digested that little bit of information.

"You can do that up here, too."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? It was a gut reaction. I knew if I came up here everyone'd be talking at me and asking me questions and telling me to go on my next mission…" He sighed. "It was stupid. Sorry."

The Lantern looked at his friend for a few moments longer before putting his hand on his shoulder and smiling reassuringly. "No. It wasn't." He nodded his head towards Mr Terrific, who was seated rather impatiently above them. "I've got another mission to get to, but when I get back we can talk about it." He turned to go. "Just think before you do something like this next time, okay? You had a lot of people worried."

A green glow surrounded him, and John shot up to Mr Terrific for his briefing.

Flash grimaced as he headed for a workstation, hoping to contact Shayera and Carter and tell them to stop the search.

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Nightwing looked down at the body, fighting back the wave of nausea that threatened to overcome him. The man's eyes had been removed and his lips stitched together, although his mouth still managed to take on the shape of a horrified scream. He was curiously bereft of blood, as though it had been… cleaned off him.

The unofficial protector of Bludhaven shuddered inwardly. He didn't want to think of what kind of criminal would do such a thing and still have a clear conscience. Perhaps he didn't. But, Nightwing had been trailing Amar for more a little over a month now, and if there was anything he was sure of, it was that Amar didn't care one iota about killing another human being.

He looked around the hastily abandoned operating room. There was little left in the bare room except for the operating table, the body, and…

Crystal blue eyes were drawn to an orange prison shirt laid haphazardly on the floor. Nightwing knelt and picked up the shirt and examined it. There was a tag stitched into the lining of the shirt. In the dim light, he struggled to make it out.

_Iron Heights._

He reached into his belt and pulled out a small com link that Batman had given to him in case he needed to call the League. Of course, this time he was hoping to find a particular League member.

"Watchtower, this is Nightwing. Do you read?"

Static followed.

"Watchtower?"

Silence still.

Then, _"Watchtower here. What's the problem?"_

From what Nightwing could remember of his time at the Metro Tower, it was Mr Terrific speaking.

"I've found an escapee from what looks like Iron Heights. Was there a prison break I don't know about?"

"_As a matter of fact, there was. Is he all right?"_

Nightwing didn't bother looking again. "No, not really. He's been killed and mutilated by a criminal I've been trailing."

"_Do you need any help?"_

He was silent for a moment. Did he?

"Actually, I was looking for-"

A noise behind him drew his attention to the doorway. There was nothing there. He stood up cautiously and walked to the door that led to the alleyway. He waited for a few seconds before quickly jumping out into it, baton drawn. There was no sign of anything in the poorly lit alleyway.

"_Nightwing? Are you all right?"_

"… yeah… yeah, I'm fine. I just-" he turned back to the doorway in time feel a sudden burning sensation slice through the back of his calf, and he fell to one knee. He looked over to see Amar, his skinny frame exaggerated by an elaborate black leather costume, his face covered by a ghoulish white mask.

He brought down the knife again, this time aiming for his head. Nightwing rolled out of the way and ended up with his back to a wall. Amar slashed out at his throat. Nightwing held up an arm to block out, but only succeeded in letting Amar slash his wrist open.

Blue light suddenly filled the room, and Amar fled. The last thing Nightwing saw before falling unconscious from blood loss was the Flash's worried visage.

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(A/N: A bit of a shift of characters here, but that's the feeling I was going for, really. I always liked the whole 'Unlimited' aspect of JLU.

Those of you who know your _Flash _comics will know who Amar is. But for those of you who don't, I'll be going into detail next chapter, so don't worry about it too much.

Not much else to say, except… _Justice League Unlimited _coming to DVD soon!

And… review. ;))


	5. Turning Point

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Complicated Simplicity**_

_**Chapter Five: Turning Point**_

Carter Hall, otherwise known as Hawkman, had seen the Flash nervous before. He had seen the Flash nervous, upset, angry, hurt, even nigh on psychotic (granted, that was a Flash from a parallel universe, but still). But he hadn't seen him worried to this point before.

He made his way over to the speedster, a Styrofoam cup of coffee in each hand. He wasn't sure that adding caffeine to the situation was the best move, but the young superhero had been rather insistent. And emotional, come to think of it, but Carter didn't want to cause his friend any more stress than he was already being subjected to.

After receiving the call from Wally that he was in fact alive and well on the Watchtower, Carter had only just managed to arrive back at the satellite before seeing Shayera angrily 'tearing Wally a new one', to use a phrase that Ray used. Even though it was understandable anger born out of concern for the sometimes impulsive superhero, Carter couldn't help but think it was a little rash to treat the speedster in such a way.

Later, Carter had found out from some of the Watchtower staff that Green Lantern had given him a similarly angry scolding, and had resolved not to give Flash the same treatment. In his experience, the speedster never responded to such approaches. While he still understood their reasons for being angry, he thought their approach had little to be desired.

And so, once Shayera had finished her 'speech' and stormed off to some distant part of the Watchtower, Carter had approached the speedster and simply asked him if he was all right. But before the conversation could even get off the ground, Mr Terrific got a call from one of the Flash's Teen Titan friends, Nightwing. The vigilante had been attacked by some serial killer who Carter wasn't familiar with, and was now lying in the Watchtower med bay, having lost a considerable amount of blood from his viciously slashed wrist.

And that was where the Flash was now firmly situated, stubbornly resisting any efforts to move him. Hence why Carter merely asked him if there was anything he needed, rather than telling him to do something. In reply, the speedster had grinned and said 'one mocha frappachino latte with all the trimmings?'

Carter had known the speedster long enough to know that 'all the trimmings' meant the customary twenty-seven sugars on top of everything else. The high speed metabolism of the speedster still amazed him when he saw it up close.

Flash glanced over at him from where he was sat, barely moving his head in a short nod of acknowledgement before returning his concerned gaze to Nightwing.

"How is he?" he asked gently as he handed over the sugar loaded beverage, recognising that Flash wasn't going to want to talk about his own problems any time soon. And while Carter was itching to talk to his friend about what happened at Iron Heights, Flash's current emotional state was of far more consequence to the faux-Thanagarian.

The speedster sighed as he took the cup. "No change." He blew on his coffee tentatively. "T found the guy yet?" he asked, keeping his gaze firmly on the drink before him.

Hawkman recognised 'T' as an abbreviation of 'Mr Terrific' that both Flash and Green Arrow used regularly (Carter had to admit, 'Mr Terrific' _was_ a mouthful in the middle of a battle). He shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Dr Amar is a very evasive character."

Another sigh escaped Wally's lips. "Yeah, well…" He turned to look at Nightwing. "That would be why he was having so much trouble finding him."

"And you?" Carter asked, pulling up a chair beside him. "How are you doing?"

He shrugged. "I'm okay. No stab wounds, so that's good, I guess."

Carter smiled lightly before looking back down at Nightwing. "How long have you known him?"

"Oh, man, I don't know…" he replied, blowing out a breath as he thought on the matter.

"That long, huh?"

The speedster opened his mouth, and then closed it. "Yeah." Flash suddenly looked up at him. "Dude, I'm sorry. You have to get to the museum, don't you?"

"It's not important."

Flash gave him a sarcastic smile. "Not important, my finely toned ass. You go, I'm fine."

"But-"

He ushered him out of the med bay with a wave of his hand. "Go, go, I'm fine."

Hawkman paused, reluctant. "…you're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Nightwing'll wake up any minute now, and then we'll have a party, it'll be great." He took on a more serious tone. "And… look, I'm feeling bad enough right now without getting you fired making me feel worse. So just go. I'll be fine. Really."

The curator of the Midway City Museum thought for a while. "All right. But if you need anything, just give me a call."

The speedster gave a mock salute. "Can do."

After gently placing his coffee cup on the bedside table, Carter made his way to the door, which slid open for him obligingly. He turned to look at Wally.

"You're sure that-"

"Good God, man, go!" Flash's eyes could be practically seen rolling beneath his opaque eye lenses.

Carter put up his hands in mock surrender as he left. "All right, all right…"

However, as he looked through the observation window of the med bay, Hawkman couldn't help but berate himself for giving in so easily.

He would have to have a talk with Green Arrow.

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All that Alfred Pennyworth could hear as he entered the cave was the familiar clacking of the keyboard echoing off the walls. He stifled a sigh that would normally have pricked the ears of his currently over stressed master and made his way down the steps.

"I have informed Mr Fox that the meeting has been moved to Thursday, sir."

Bruce Wayne, fully encompassed by the garb of the Batman, continued his typing, unhindered by Alfred's declaration.

The eternally patient servant decided to press on.

"May I enquire to the well-being of Master Dick?"

_That _stopped him. At first, Bruce didn't do anything. Then he continued typing again.

"Mr Terrific told me he regained consciousness an hour ago."

Alfred nodded. Well, at least he was speaking.

"Are you planning a visit, sir?"

He kept on typing.

"No."

"And may I ask why?"

The incessant clacking of the keyboard was beginning to grate on Alfred.

"It wouldn't help."

His jaw clenched.

_Well, perhaps Dick just needs to know that you care, hm? Perhaps you should put aside your bloody pride and inability to deal with even the slightest bit of emotion and talk to the boy!_

This time, the sigh did escape his lips; and he was sure that Bruce had heard it, keyboard clacking or no keyboard clacking.

"Yes, Master Bruce."

And with that, the butler turned on his heel and left the cave.

Bruce waited for the door to the Batcave to clang shut before leaning back in his chair and rubbing his eyes through his lenses. Amar's attack on Dick had cancelled any plans he had had of getting any sleep that night.

He shook it off and got back to work, feverishly typing away on the console. Hopefully he would be able find some clue that Dick missed that would lead to Amar's whereabouts.

But, somehow, he doubted that very much.

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The steady beep of the machine was interrupted by a high pitched flat line as Dick pulled the heart monitors from his chest. Flash was on him in an instant.

"Whoa, slow down. You lost a lot of blood, buddy."

Nightwing shook his head. "I don't have time to slow down. Amar's-"

"We're on it. Lie down."

"But he's-"

Flash covered his ears, as difficult a feat as that was with his earpieces in the way. "La la la! Don't want to hear it! Rest now!"

After a staring contest of roughly five seconds, the protector of Bludhaven sighed and slumped back onto the bed.

"But you don't know anything about him. How dangerous he is."

"Could he hurt Superman?"

"Is Superman down there?"

The speedster paused. "Well… no. But you get my point."

"Who _is _down there?"

"Uh… Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. I think. That might've changed, I haven't been checking in."

Dick scowled. "Why not? I need to keep up to-"

"Because you were lying here unconscious from blood loss! That… kinda takes priority." He shrugged. "Sorry."

The ex-Robin's features softened. "No, I'm sorry." He rubbed his face restlessly. "I've just been tracking this guy for so long… it feels wrong to just pass it on and let someone else handle it."

"And you used to be the leader of a _team_?"

"Do you _want _to hear the story?"

Flash put up his hands. "All right, all right. I'm listening. No mocking."

Dick gave him a look.

"I promise!"

After a brief pause, the vigilante looked up at the ceiling in defeat. "His name is Dr Michael Amar. He used to be one of the most renowned surgeons in the country."

"I've never heard of him."

"I'm shocked. Anyway-"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Would you shut up and let me finish?"

The speedster crossed his arms. "Fine."

Nightwing sighed before continuing. "A few years ago, he went crazy. Started killing random patients so he could 'stop the voices'. Eventually he came to Gotham, where Batman stopped him. Amar couldn't control himself and sporadically confessed different crimes while he was in Arkham. Somehow, he managed to escape. He cut out his own tongue-"

Flash winced.

"-and sewed his lips shut-"

Flash winced again.

"-to stop himself from ever incriminating himself again. He's been moving from city to city ever since, acting as an underground plastic surgeon for criminals to bring him some money and victims."

Flash nodded. "And now he's settled in Bludhaven."

"Not if I can help it," Dick replied, making another move to get out of the bed. Once again, the speedster was on him in an instant.

"No! The doctors say you won't even be able to stand up yet."

Almost as soon as he had said it, Wally knew it was a mistake. If there was one thing he had learnt about Dick Grayson from knowing him since he was fifteen, it was that you never, _never _told him what he _wouldn't_ be able to do. Because Dick Grayson would not stop until he had done it, and done it so well he could rub it in your face for as long as you lived.

He still gloated over Wally and Garfield after they challenged him to make the perfect soufflé. Although Wally personally found it funny that the Dick Grayson, the terror of Bludhaven, could make a perfect soufflé, and was proud of the fact.

His jaw set in determination, Dick forced himself up onto his feet. He swayed to and fro a few times, stubbornly waving off Wally's assistance when he offered it. Then, gradually, he straightened out and stood up. He cocked an eyebrow and smirked.

Wally crossed his arms and returned the smirk. "Now walk forward."

The smug expression faltered almost imperceptibly. One foot went forward. Then the next…

Dick Grayson, the costumed vigilante known as Nightwing, fell to the ground in an awkwardly shaped heap.

Barely managing to hold back his guffaws, Flash helped Nightwing back into the bed.

"You know, you have a lousy bedside manner," he fumed, glaring at the giggling speedster.

"Hey, Kori would've just broken your legs."

Dick tried to remain serious, but the comment managed to elicit a smile from him. He rubbed his weary eyes.

"So who's going after Amar?"

"You're looking at him."

He looked over at Wally.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"It just… Amar's not exactly… what you're used to."

"What's to get used to? He's a skinny guy with a knife."

"Don't underestimate him. The police forces of three cities have, I have, and even Batman has. Amar doesn't just use a knife. He's stronger than he looks."

"Big whoop."

"_And _he's developed something called the Frenzy virus. It effectively drives the victim insane, physically and mentally."

The speedster nodded slowly, seemingly taking it in. However, with the Flash, it was always difficult to tell the difference between listening intently and ignoring completely.

"Got it?"

"I got it."

"Have you actually got it, or are you just saying that to shut me up?"

"I got it, okay?!"

Dick was stunned to silence for a moment by the sudden outburst, but quickly got over it. He leaned forward and spoke quietly.

"Are you okay, Wally?"

"I'm fine. It's nothing."

A 'don't give me that crap' look was the only response Dick gave.

Wally sighed. "Something happened at Iron Heights. During the breakout."

"What?"

The speedster looked away, gazing both idly and intently at a stain on the floor. "I… almost killed someone."

"By accident?"

He shook his head.

"What happened?"

"It was Volcana. She was using Linda as a hostage… and I just…" He shook his head.

"Wally… it's understandable to get a little crazy when your loved ones are in danger. It's not _ideal_, but it's understandable. Don't beat yourself up over it."

"It's not just that. Before that, I was talking to Green Arrow about how we shouldn't kill, that we can't make that kind of choice. But as soon as it's someone that _I _care about…" He sighed again. "What if next time I won't be able to stop? What if Captain Cold points his gun at Aunt Iris and I just kill him?"

"You wouldn't do that."

"… I'm not so sure anymore."

"Well, I _am_ sure. You wouldn't kill anyone, no matter what they did to you. It's just… not in you."

"But I wanted to-"

"But you didn't, and that's the important thing here."

"That's only because Arrow stopped me. If he hadn't been there-"

"If he _hadn't _been there, do you really think you would've killed Volcana?"

"I-"

"_Truthfully_, Wally. Do you really think you have it in you to take the life of another human being?"

Flash sighed. "No."

Nightwing knew his friend well enough to see that he wasn't convinced.

"You said you were arguing with Green Arrow. What was he saying about it?"

"He was saying that sometimes it's necessary for us to kill. He wasn't talking about a killing spree or anything, but…" the speedster shook his head. "I didn't like what he was talking about."

Dick braced himself for the response to his upcoming statement. "He… does carry a point, Wally."

"What?"

"Sometimes…" Dick paused as he thought about how to phrase his words. "Look, you're going to bring Amar in, right?"

"Right."

"And you know that he's killed countless people, right?"

"Okay…"

"And you know what the sentence for that is, right?"

Flash opened his mouth to speak when realisation hit. "Oh…"

"It… it's difficult, Wally. There are some criminals that just don't respond to being beaten up and thrown in jail. Amar is one of them. Joker is another."

"So we should just kill them."

"No. No, I'm not saying that, I… Wally, this just isn't something that can be explained to you. You've always been naïve about this kind of thing, and I've known since the day I met you that someday it would turn around and bite you in the ass."

Wally nodded slowly. "Right." He leapt to his feet. "Uh, I'm just gonna check on Amar and everything. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Wally, come on, don't-"

"No, no, it's okay, I've uh… I've gotta go. I'll see ya."

In a literal flash, the speedster was gone, leaving only the weak fluttering of the bed sheets in his wake.

Dick sighed and lay back in his bed. "That went well."

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Mr Terrific could hear the vague noises of Static and Gear bickering over something behind the Atom, whose expression seemed to indicate they had been doing so for awhile.

"How's it going?"

The scientist sighed. _"They're… working on it. There's nothing more I can say than that."_

"…right. Have you got an ETA for me?"

Static's voice chimed in. _"Yeah; right now."_

Next was Gear's. _"There are some things in the teleporter that need to be changed."_

"What things?"

"_I don't really want to go into the exact mechanics of it-"_

"_It'd take a long time, trust me," _Static added.

"_-but the modifications I need to make means that the teleport itself will take about an hour. And once you start it, you won't be able to stop, or, uh…"_

"Or what?"

"… _bad things will happen."_

"Understood. Can you make the modifications now?"

Gear nodded. _"I'll be up there in a few minutes."_

Atom poked his head in. _"Better make it ten. We'll need to get the machine ready for transport up to the bridge."_

"All right. Bridge, out."

Mr Terrific felt a slight breeze and looked over to see Flash.

"How's Nightwing?"

"He's okay," he replied simply, looking off into space.

"I got a call from a Hunter Zolomon of the Central City PD a few minutes ago. He said to call him back as soon as you could."

Flash nodded and pushed a few buttons on the control panel in front of him to make the call.

After a few rings, a low growl of a voice answered, sounding slightly groggy as though waking up.

"_Hello?"_

"Hey, Hunter. This is Flash."

"_Mmm? Oh, Flash. Right, right."_

"Did I wake you up?"

"_Not really. The leg's been keeping me awake recently."_

"What's up?"

"_I called to ask about you when Mr Terrific told me about Amar. Being a criminal profiler and all, I thought I'd give you what I know about him."_

A red eyebrow cocked beneath the crimson mask. "You know about Amar?"

"_I tend to keep an eye on psychotic criminals who are close by Central City. It's an old habit from being in the FBI, I guess."_

"What've you got?"

"_You probably know most of his story by now. Renowned surgeon, started killing people to 'stop the voices'-"_

"Cut out his own tongue, yadda yadda…"

"_Right. But what you may not know is that in certain situations after his incarceration, he became docile and placid. Not a violent tendency in sight, unless provoked."_

"Do you know why?"

"_I looked into all the places that Amar was when the behaviour was recorded, and found one thing in common with each of the rooms; they all had aspects of lead in their construction."_

"Why lead?"

"_I don't know. Maybe he thought it blocked the voices or something. But that's the only thing I could find in common."_

"So if we look for all the places that have lead…" he said, looking over at Mr Terrific.

The Justice League co-ordinator nodded in response and began tapping away at a control panel in front of him. "We should be able to scan for it from up here."

They waited for a few minutes as the scanners did their work on the city of Bludhaven. As they did so, the doors to the bridge opened, revealing Gear, Static and the Atom as they pushed the time machine to the teleporter pad on its anti grav trolley, assisted by several Watchtower workers. Flash gave Mr Terrific a questioning look.

"I'll explain later."

The computer in front of them beeped, and Mr Terrific once again tapped away on the console. A list of names appeared on the screen.

"Here's a list of the buildings with the most lead used in their construction," he said, pointing.

The speedster smirked as he looked at the list. "And top of the list is a LuthorCorp warehouse."

"Get going. I'll tell Booster Gold and Blue Beetle to meet you there."

"Right. Hunter, I'll talk to you later."

"_Wait, Flash. Let me go with you."_

"What? No way. Do you know how dangerous this guy is?"

"_Look, I'm on my way there now anyway."_

"You're what?"

"_I'm on the train to Bludhaven now; I'm about two minutes out. So either I go by myself and end up distracting you in the middle of a fight, or I go with you and you can know where I am and not have to worry about me."_

The speedster groaned and covered his face with his hands, rubbing his eyes irritably.

"I don't need this…"

Mr Terrific cocked an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Flash swung his arms down. "All right, you're coming. Just… stay out of the way, okay? I don't want to see you getting cut up as well."

"_No problem. I'll see in a few."_

There was a click followed by a dial tone. Flash glanced over at Mr Terrific as he walked to the door.

"See you later."

"Flash."

He stopped at the doorway.

"Are you all right to do this? I could send Shayera instead."

The speedster paused almost imperceptibly before grinning and waving his hand dismissively. "Pffft. What? No, don't be stupid. I can handle one skinny guy with a knife. Besides, y'know, he got my buddy, I have to get him, honour between warriors, blah blah blah, y'know."

Mr Terrific just stared at him for a few moments before nodding. "All right. Before you go, be aware that the teleporters won't be functioning either here or at the Metro Tower for about an hour after you've gone."

"Why?"

He silently pointed down below them at the bickering Static and Gear as the Atom looked on helplessly, looking as though he might explode at any moment.

"Oh, okay. Big machine. One hour. Gotcha."

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Hunter looked up and down the street and once again resisted the urge to shiver. The way the shadows obscured his vision, it made the street seem as thought it were coming alive whenever he moved. He was beginning to see why only the worst kind of criminals resided in Bludhaven. Hunter tried to keep his cane quiet as it hit the sidewalk.

"When's that backup of yours getting here again?"

Flash paused at the street corner. "They ran into some guy barrelling down the streets in a stolen police van. They said they'd be here as soon as they could." He looked over at his limping companion. "I told you not to come."

He shrugged. "It's fine."

"Yeah. Right." He made as though to go around the corner, then stopped himself. "Hunter. We've known each other for awhile now, right?"

"Four months, at least."

"Right. Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Well… shouldn't we be-"

"It'll only take a sec."

Hunter sighed. "All right."

"What do you expect from a hero?"

"What?"

"I mean… how do you think a hero should act? Do you think he should… talk to the people he saves? Should he separate himself from them? Should he…" Flash took a breath. "Should he kill?"

Realisation dawned on Hunter's face as he realised the real purpose of Flash's questioning.

"This is about what happened with Volcana, isn't it?"

He didn't reply. He didn't need to.

"All right. I'll tell you what I think a hero should do. A hero should do whatever it takes to protect the innocent, regardless of the risks."

"But… what if that means killing someone? Doesn't that make him as bad as the people he fights against?"

"No, because his intentions are good."

"But-"

Hunter put up a hand. "That's all. All that other stuff you asked about is immaterial. To me, a hero is willing to do whatever it takes. It's as simple as that."

Flash sighed loudly. "Right."

"You know what else a hero should do?"

He looked at Hunter.

"He shouldn't leave his buddies freezing their asses off when he should be getting on with the job."

That comment elicited a grin from the speedster, who pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "Just round the corner."

The two crept around, Flash visibly slowing his pace to keep side by side with the limping Hunter. The profiler had lost count of how many times people had slowed down, however subtly, to allow him to feel like he was 'normal'. He didn't resent their intentions, just their actions.

They reached the entrance to the warehouse. The two went down an alleyway beside it, and Flash put his back to the wall beside a door concealed by shadows.

"Okay," he whispered, "keep quiet. He-"

Amar leapt out of the shadows and barrelled straight into the Flash, knocking him head over heels down the alleyway. Amar turned to Hunter, his skinny frame barely registering in Hunter's eyes.

He slashed out with his knife, catching Hunter on the chest. The police profiler yelled and fell back from the pain, accidentally putting all his weight on his bad leg before tumbling to the ground.

Amar slammed a needle into his side and pushed the tab on the top down, pumping Hunter full of something.

A red blur shot out and smashed into Amar's masked face. He hurtled down the alleyway and collided with the wall at the end, a loud crunch accompanying the impact.

"Flash!"

The speedster barely registered Booster Gold and Blue Beetle's presence as he knelt beside the trembling Hunter, who was curled up in a foetal position. Flash turned him onto his back to look at his eyes, which were dilated to a degree Flash had never seen on anyone. His mouth was beginning to froth, and the convulsions were becoming far more violent.

"God…" Beetle muttered, putting a hand over his mouth.

Flash whipped his head around to look at the two heroes. "What are you doing!? Get _him!_" he said, pointing down the alleyway at the unconscious form of Amar.

The two nodded dumbly and headed off to their duties as Flash cautiously picked up his shaking friend. He put his hand to his earpiece.

"I need an emergency transport, now!"

"_We can't; the teleporter's-"_

"Try anyway! Hunter's dying, and the Watchtower tech's the best chance he's got!"

"_Flash-"_

"Please! Just try!"

There was a brief silencefrom the other end as Mr Terrific conferred with what sounded like Gear and the Atom.

"_All right. We **might **be able to bring him up if he's the only one. So put him on the ground and back up."_

Flash nodded quickly. "Okay." Delicately, he put Hunter down on the floor, whose skin was now deathly pale. His hand came back up to the earpiece again. "Ready!"

"_Right. Now, whatever happens, don't try to touch him."_

"Okay, just do it!"

"_Transporting now."_

In an instant, the police profiler was encompassed by blue-white energy. However, it didn't disappear right away, instead remaining in front of Flash's eyes, fluctuating rapidly. Through the shifting lights, Wally could make out Hunter's form. Hunter looked over at him, his expression still vacant. He reached out to the speedster.

All Flash could do was watch.

Suddenly, the size of the light changed, and became roughly the same size as a car. Flash realised it was the time machine he was seeing. His hand whipped up to his ear.

"What's going on up there?!"

"_Stand by."_

The light shifted, once again becoming Hunter. Then the time machine. Then Hunter again. It continued to fluctuate until it looked as though the two were occupying the same space at the same time.

A blinding burst of light sprang forth, and Wally covered his eyes with his arm. Gradually, the light subsided, and the Scarlet Speedster lowered his arm, his vision obscured by a plethora of multi coloured dots.

Before him lay the inanimate body of Hunter Zolomon, face down on the ground.

"Hunter!"

He was beside him in an instant and turned him over.

There wasn't a mark on him. Frantically, Flash checked the knife wound on his chest.

Nothing.

He checked his pulse.

Going strong.

A speedy examination revealed that, much to Flash's confusion, there was no evidence that anything had happened to Hunter at all. His communicator beeped for attention.

"_Flash! Are you all right?"_

"Yeah, I'm… I'm okay."

"_What about Zolomon?"_

"He's, uh… he's okay too."

"_Well, I'm glad to see some good news come out of this."_

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"_The time machine we were trying to teleport? It's wrecked. In fact, it barely even resembles the time machine. Now it's just a melted… mess."_

Flash frowned and looked down at his friend, who looked almost serene in his state of unconsciousness.

"I'll uh… I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"_Right."_

He looked over at Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, who had a cuffed Amar held between them.

"Can you guys make sure he's taken care of?"

They nodded.

"No problem," Booster said. He nodded. "You just get him to a hospital."

Flash smiled, although the expression seemed slightly bewildered. He picked up Hunter and shot off down the street, not sure whether to be concerned or happy about what happened to Hunter.

He didn't even notice that Hunter's eyes had taken on a slightly reddish hue.

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(A/N: Thanks to Hhgbh for beta-ing.

Ray is the Atom's real name, for those not in the know.

Anyway, review!)


	6. Retrospective

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Complicated Simplicity**_

_**Chapter Six: Retrospective**_

Hunter wasn't moving. He hadn't moved since Wally had last seen him the previous day, when he had brought him in. It wasn't just the fact that he was staring forward blankly. It was that he wasn't blinking. If he knew Wally was watching him through the window, he wasn't showing it. Wally was beginning to wonder if there was anything going on behind his blank brown eyes at all.

The elevator door opened, and John Stewart walked down the corridor towards him. Usually Wally would have smiled at the fact that John had brought him a mocha without being asked, but he wasn't in much of a smiling mood right now.

"Hey."

The speedster gave him a weak smile and a nod of thanks before taking the Styrofoam cup from his friend.

"How is he?"

He sighed. "No idea. The doctors can't find anything wrong with him, and when I try talking to him, he just stares off into space."

John crossed his arms. "In fairness, I don't think the doctors have ever seen anything like this. Even the ones at the Metro Tower."

"I guess."

"What happened to, uh… Mamar, was it?"

"_A_mar. He's at Iron Heights now in one of their high tech containment deals." He continued staring at Hunter. "Hope it works."

There was a pause.

"He's getting the death penalty."

John looked at him, waiting for some further elaboration. When none came, he cocked an eyebrow. "So?"

Flash shrugged. "Nothing, y'know, it's just…" His gaze came up to meet John's. He waved a dismissive hand. "Y'know what? Never mind. It's not important."

"Come on. What?"

"No, it's fine. You… you wouldn't understand anyway."

"How do you know?"

"'Cause I know you, and you, uh…" He looked down into his coffee, almost intensely examining the brown liquid. "You just wouldn't understand." He took a sip of his coffee. "Huh."

"What?"

"My coffee."

"Your coffee?"

"Yeah. You put thirty seven sugars in." He looked over at the Green Lantern blankly. "Y'know Hawkman still puts twenty seven in? And y'know, me being me, I can't bring myself to tell him." He stared into the brown liquid. "You'd think I'd be able to do something so simple."

John just stared at him, unsure of how to continue. He had originally come here with the objective of talking to Wally and making him feel better as only a best friend can. But now that he was here, John was just feeling more useless than ever.

He stood by Wally for an hour before going on duty.

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A content smile on his features, he licked his thumb before turning the page. It was a habit from his human days, and it had stuck with him, however ridiculous it seemed. He paused in his reading to once again note the silence the soundproof walls provided. Noise was one of the many reasons he had requested this cell, as well as the fact that it was suitably removed from the other inmates to allow him some privacy for his reading.

And, of course, for his opera. Not that he cared much whether his fellow inmates heard it or not, but after numerous complaints that had been communicated by the guards, Ultra Humanite had decided it best to kill two birds with one stone and be done with it.

Unfortunately, now that he _had _his privacy, he had quickly read through the prison's entire library, and was now three quarters through re-reading it. He sighed as he read page 175 of Tom Brown's 'Schooldays'.

His ears perked as he heard, even through the spectacularly soundproofed walls – the benefit of having ones' brain transplanted into the body of an ape - the sound of a door being opened and closed with a loud clang. At least, it would have been loud if he was in any other cell.

Footsteps approached, and he expected them to pass him by, and so returned to his book. He was mildly surprised when the door to his cell opened. The customary guard, who Humanite had learned was named Jerry, stepped through.

"It's not dinner time already, is it?" he asked, taking off his reading glasses.

"Nope. You've got a visitor."

His curiosity briefly piqued, but was quickly replaced by caution. "Who is it?"

"Just a guy with a book," a voice said from behind the door, and a red gloved hand came into view, firmly clasped onto a book shaped clump of wrapping paper. The Flash came around the door, the usual grin on his face. "Hey, buddy."

His face now locked in a grimace, Humanite put his reading glasses back on and continued reading page 175. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, now, is that any way to talk to someone who's brought you a _first edition _of 'The Capture in the Rice'?"

"It's called 'The Catcher in the Rye'. And I've already read it."

"Recently?"

Humanite paused. "No."

"All right," he replied, nodding and grinning.

After another long pause, Humanite sighed. "All right," he said, removing his glasses and using them as a gesturing tool. "What do you want?"

"Just wanted to talk."

"About what?"

"Just stuff."

"…Stuff."

"Stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Stuff! What? Yes! Stuff! Geez…"

He carefully folded his glasses and snapped his book shut, unconcerned about his losing his place. Yet another advantage of being a super genius.

"All right. Do you mind waiting outside, Jerry?"

He shrugged. "If I can't trust the Flash not to break you out, who can I trust?"

"Indeed."

Jerry turned and left the cell, closing it behind him. Ultra Humanite held out his hand to the Flash, who merely stared at it in puzzlement.

Humanite sighed, rolled his eyes, and nodded to his hand impatiently.

Realization struck.

"Oh! Yeah. Here it is."

The speedster handed over the book and awkwardly looked for a place to sit. Humanite watched him attempt to lean against the dresser, the bedside table and the desk before intervening.

"Oh, for heaven's sake. Just sit on the bed."

"Yeah, I was… uh, just… thought that was kinda rude without asking."

A hairless eyebrow rose. "You? Concerned with manners? Who on Earth have you been seeing?"

Flash grinned. "Hey, I'm only rude with the people I don't like," he said with a wink, prompting a groan and another roll of the eyes from his companion.

He unwrapped the book and admired the illustration on the cover. "Remarkable."

"You like it?" the speedster asked, lying down on the bed with his hands behind his head and legs crossed, his right dangling from side to side off his left. "It took me a long time to find it. You'd think it'd be easier to find old books like that, but it's really not, so I had to find people who liked books in the Watchtower and the Metro Tower, and that wasn't easy either, and-"

"Please. Stop. Why are you here?"

An uncomfortable silence filled the room, which Humanite instantly noted as unusual for the Flash.

"I uh, wanted to talk to you about something."

"Ah, yes. The elusive 'stuff' you hinted at earlier."

"Uh, yeah. That stuff."

He didn't continue. Humanite rotated his hand in a 'go on' gesture.

A heavy sigh escaped the speedster's lips. "Okay. I've been having a problem…"

Ultra Humanite didn't question. He didn't interrupt. He simply let his visitor talk.

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The first thing that Hunter noted upon waking was the silence. Although this wasn't the usual silence expected of a hospital room. As he took in his surroundings, he realised that the reason why was because he wasn't in the hospital.

How did he get here?

_Amar. _

He grimaced.

_I was being careless. _

_Just like was with the Clown._

Hunter still remembered it like it was yesterday.

"_He won't have a gun."_

He had been so sure of himself.

So very cocky.

"_Trust me, Ashley."_

The sound of the gunshot still woke him up in a cold sweat.

From that day onward, he had vowed not to let himself get complacent or cocky. Nothing would stop him from finding maniacs like his father and the Clown and putting them behind bars. Or sending them to electric chair, if he had any say in it.

That was something that he had hoped to someday instil in the Flash. All of the charity work and keeping in touch with the people might by nice, but it didn't stop the criminals and psychotics. If anything, it encouraged them to attack, since the only image one gives out is one of sentimentality. Sentimentality and emotional attachments are a weakness to enemies.

He made to get out of the bed, and felt a small pain in his arm. A quick look down showed the IV drip that was hooked into his arm. He irritably ripped off the tape and took the tube out of his arm, using a pillow to the stop the bleeding.

Hunter didn't know why he was so intent on moving, but he also didn't care. He continued moving to the window and opened the blinds. As he looked out the window, he realised where he was.

He was in the Justice League's Metro Tower. The view of Metropolis was breathtaking. But Hunter didn't really notice. He simply saw where he was and moved on.

Why wasn't there any noise?

Hunter paused. But there was a noise. A very low, strange hum, but it was definitely there.

Even in the Metro Tower, Hunter expected some noise. Maybe the rooms were soundproofed. That was probably it.

Definitely.

He made his way to the door, the fact that his only piece of clothing was a hospital gown barely registering in his mind. He froze, and looked down.

His bad leg.

There was no pain.

There was no pain!

He took a deep breath, and instantly choked as his throat dried up. Hunter's eyes watered. Breathing made his throat burn. Every time he moved, his whole body heated up.

Then, just as suddenly, the feeling was gone.

Hunter took a few breaths to steady himself and wiped his eyes. He rubbed his throat, which now felt completely normal.

_What the hell was that?_

After taking another minute or so to make sure it wasn't going to happen again, he continued on through the door. He stopped instantly as he saw a doctor stood in front of him, a grimace on his features.

"Uh… sorry," Hunter said somewhat sheepishly, annoyed at himself for being caught. "I was just-"

He stopped in mid sentence as he noticed the doctor wasn't focusing on him. He was _looking _at him, but not focusing. Hunter waved a cautious hand in front of the doctor's face and snapped his fingers a few times for good measure.

Nothing.

He sidestepped, and the doctor's gaze didn't follow him. Hunter looked up and down the corridor, and saw other members of the Metro Tower staff similarly frozen in place. Something in the distance really got his attention, however. One of the Metro Tower staff (his name tag named him Richards) had dropped a file wedged full of paper.

Or at least, he was in the process of dropping it.

The paper was frozen in mid air, the staff member similarly frozen next it, the expression of irritation on his face stuck in place.

Hunter looked down at his hospital gown and grimaced. He needed to change. He turned to find some clothes, and then stopped himself.

_Why aren't I phased by this? I should be amazed… and all I can think about is finding some clothes?_

He looked down at his gown again.

_I need to find some clothes._

After stealing a uniform from the staff member who had dropped the paper, Hunter took the stairs, knowing that the elevators wouldn't be working. If the world was frozen except for him, he doubted the guy would mind.

It took a relative half hour to get to the bottom of the stair case and out into the lobby of the Metro Tower. He went through the doors and out into the city of Metropolis.

He had to get to Central City.

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Flash shifted uncomfortably in the chair. "…and that's it."

It didn't look like Humanite was going to respond. His dull gaze seemed almost as if he were in a trance.

"Uh… you there?"

Humanite blinked, then frowned. "What?"

"You just… looked a little spaced out there."

"I was thinking."

"Oh. About what?"

"What do you think?"

Flash wracked his brain at super speed, going through all the smart topics he could think of.

_Science, literature, philosophy-_

"_You_, you fool."

"Oh. Okay." He paused. "So?"

"So… what?"

"What do you think?"

"Well, I don't know yet, do I?"

"…Why not?"

"Because you haven't allowed me time to think about it."

"Oh. Sorry." Flash sat in silence for a few moments before something occurred to him. "But aren't you like super-smart?"

"_Please._"

He put up his hands in surrender. "Sorry, sorry…"

After an infuriatingly long time (at least for Wally), Ultra Humanite spoke up.

"May I ask you something?"

"Uh… shoot."

"Are you more concerned with the moral dilemma of killing your enemies, or how your comrades and adoring public would react?"

"What?"

The grey-furred head tilted to the side, the tired look appearing strange on the face of a gorilla. "Did you _really _expect me to sugar coat it? That _is _why you came to me, isn't it? For an undiluted, _honest _opinion?"

Flash sighed. "I guess…"

"Well?"

The speedster took some time on the question, and even seemed to be seriously considering his answer.

Humanite raised an impressed eyebrow.

"It's not… either of those," Flash said, staring at the floor in front of him. "Not really."

"Then what do you believe it is?"

"It's… the idea of _killing _someone. You know. They're alive, and then they're not. I…" He shook his head. "I don't know how anyone could live with it."

"You'd be surprised," Humanite replied quietly.

Flash didn't reply, not wanting to think about what was meant by the comment.

"In any case," the gorilla continued, "you have little to worry about."

"Really? I mean… you think I won't?"

"I didn't say that. To be honest, I'd rather not tell you what I think. I wouldn't want it to influence your decision."

"Gee, thanks."

"However, I _will _say that doubting yourself is merely increasing the difficulty you are having with this dilemma. If you spend all of your time worrying about killing your opponents, then you are unlikely to be fighting crime for much longer."

"So I should just stop complaining and get on with it?"

Humanite shrugged. "I wouldn't put it quite so crudely, but yes."

Flash nodded and smiled wistfully. "Do you know how ironic it is that you're the first person to make me feel better about this?"

"Well, my intelligence _is _far superior to everyone you know."

"Nice modesty, there."

"You can talk."

"You talk more."

"I talk with purpose."

"A boring purpose, usually."

"It's culture."

"It's boring, trust me."

"Hah. There's a concept."

Silence descended between them.

"Thanks."

Ultra Humanite picked up the book that Flash had brought him and began reading. "If you're planning on any further impromptu visits, please bring a larger selection of reading material. This will barely last me a day."

The speedster grinned. "Sure. How about some porno mags?"

"I'm not particularly interested in your preferred reading."

"Too advanced, huh?"

"Oh, please."

"So, porno it is."

"If you do, there will be consequences."

"Ooo, scary monkey."

Flash's communicator bleeped.

"Yeah?" He nodded. "Okay, okay, I'm coming." His hand descended from his ear. "I gotta go."

"I'm holding back the tears."

"Be nice, or you won't get any porno."

Humanite removed his reading glasses to glare at the speedster. "Incidentally, I would recommend that you talk to Superman about your current predicament."

Flash frowned, confused. "Supes? Why?"

"He's been through a similar conflict of ideals, if I'm not mistaken."

"How do you know?"

He smiled. "I'm very good at reading people, even over television broadcasts."

The speedster's frown deepened. "Uh… okay. Anything else?"

"Yes. Leave."

With a grin, Flash knocked on the door of the cell, signalling that he was done. Jerry opened the door.

Flash turned back to Humanite. "Okay, so that's two crates of porno," he said far too loudly. He looked back to Jerry. "You'd think that'd be too much for someone, but…" He shrugged in false confusion, and then sped away, leaving a disturbed Jerry trying to avoid looking at Humanite.

"You, uh… you really asked for-"

"No, of course I didn't."

Jerry didn't look convinced.

Humanite sighed. "Just close the door."

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It had taken Hunter a few weeks to walk to Central City from Metropolis, and he hadn't come across anyone who hadn't been frozen as he was. As he walked underneath the green sign welcoming visitors to Central City, he saw a deli he used to frequent in the distance.

Once again, the fact that he wasn't hungry or tired despite having not eaten or slept for weeks occurred to him, and he felt troubled. His racing mind quickly changed his train of thought, however, to getting into the city and finding the Flash. Surely he wouldn't be frozen, considering the nature of his powers.

Not that Hunter would want his help anyway. Flash wasn't willing to do what was necessary. He let his criminals run free. He-

Hunter irritably scratched his burning face. At first he had thought it was just his beard growing, but as he went on his journey to Central City, he had noticed that his hair wasn't growing at all. The only thing that seemed different to him was that he didn't get the attacks any more. No 'heat waves' as he had come to call them.

Walking without a cane was a strange experience. When he was younger, he had loved running.

Of course, the Clown changed all that.

As he entered the city, Hunter felt somewhat grateful at his current predicament. He had ended up in the worst end of the city, and considering his current purple attire of a Justice League worker, it wouldn't have been ideal under normal circumstances.

He looked up to the sky and saw a bird flying over head, its wings frozen as if in a photograph. Hunter would have given anything at that moment to see the bird continue on its way.

Sudden noise assaulted him. Cars blared their horns, babies cried in their cribs, dogs barked irritably.

Back at the Metro Tower, the doctor confusedly stared at the open door in front of him, which had a moment ago been closed. Further down the corridor, Richards looked down in glum irritation at the dropped papers, and quickly covered himself after seeing he was suddenly only wearing his boxer shorts.

In Central City, Hunter stumbled across the sidewalk and into the building beside him, reeling from the shock.

The world was back to normal again!

Hunter grinned.

It was back to normal again!

"Hey!"

The police profiler whipped his head around to confronted by a gang of street thugs, each of them giving him a look that would have made any normal man flee.

Hunter couldn't move, still overwhelmed by the onslaught of noise and motion around him. He was almost happy to see the gang descending on him.

Almost.

"What've we got here?" said what seemed to be the leader.

Another shrugged. "Dunno, man. Looks like some kinda superhero to me."

"He does, doesn't he?" The leader grinned. "Well, let's see what makes him so super, huh?"

Hunter put up his hands defensively. "Please, I don't want any trouble. I just-"

"You just stepped into the wrong part of town."

One member of the gang put a hand on the leader's shoulder, frowning at Hunter. "Hey, man… he's lookin' a bit weird to me."

"What?"

"He looks kinda… ghosty. Don't you see it?"

"Nah, man. You're just seein' things. Now shut up and let me work." He turned back to Hunter. "Now, where were we?"

He approached Hunter, pulling a flick-knife from his sleeve. His hand came forward too fast for Hunter to avoid, and he scrunched his eyes shut, preparing for the pain which now, thanks to Amar, was all to familiar to him.

Nothing happened.

The police profiler opened one eye, then another.

The street thug was frozen in place, the very tip of his blade touching Hunter's stomach. He backed up, horrified at both the proximity of the blade and the fact that he was once again stuck in limbo.

Anger welled up in him. It wasn't fair. He hadn't done anything to deserve this. And yet, for some reason, God or Fate had decided to play a little joke on him and use him as their plaything.

He looked at the knife wielding thug before him, and took in the amused bloodlust in his eyes.

It was _those _kinds of people who were responsible for this. Hunter stepped around the knife, brought back his fist, and threw it into the thugs chin as hard as he could manage. He stayed in place, unmoved by the attack. Hunter continued on to the thug's jeering allies, and gave each of them a swift blow to the head, screaming and yelling at the top of his lungs.

Tired out from the exertion, Hunter rested for a few seconds before feeling replenished, and continued on his way.

He still had to find the Flash.

In the distance, he saw a road sign pointing to the Flash Museum.

Hunter smiled. Of course! The Flash would be there. Always enjoying the fruits of his labours even if they were hardly deserved.

A half hour later, he was standing inside the Flash Museum. Out of anger that was part irritation and part frustration, Hunter had kicked the bottom of the grinning Flash statue, unheeding of the pain it would cause his leg.

Surprisingly, he barely felt a thing.

Whether by coincidence or design, Hunter found himself in the Rogue's section of the Museum.

All of these criminals. All of them alive. All of them still believing that they can do whatever they want, and _still _get away with it. The only one who wasn't around anymore was Gorilla Grodd, and that was because of someone else.

It disgusted Hunter. Who did the Flash think he was? A God-like figure like Superman can get away with such a thing, considering his powers. But the Flash? As he continually liked to spout to the public, he was just a normal guy with a little extra speed. He couldn't afford for such luxuries.

He remembered the incident at the prison. Appearances to the contrary, Hunter had been fully aware of what was going on, and had been feigning unconsciousness, hoping to catch Volcana off guard. Flash's arrival had prevented his interference.

Hunter had also been witness to Flash's violent attack against Volcana, and his cowardly departure from the scene.

If he became that broken up over _almost _killing some low rate Metahuman, then how would he be able to handle making the big decisions?

Hunter grit his teeth.

All of these criminals… and not one who feared the Flash. Not one who feared retribution. Not one that could make the Flash buckle down and become the hero he should be.

Realization struck.

Except Hunter. With the powers he had now… he would be able to show the Flash the dangers of being so complacent. And with his powers, he would be able to find out what was important to the Flash.

He would be able to find out the Flash's identity, and threaten to take from him that which he most held dear.

He would need a name. He couldn't do it as Hunter Zolomon, even with the super powers. He needed to be a symbol… something… opposite to the Flash.

Hunter began searching the Flash Museum for a particular display, his mind wandering back to a battle between the Justice League and Lex Luthor that the Flash had told him about.

Something… reverse.

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(A/N: Nothing much to say, except a big thank you to hhgbh for beta-ing.

Reviews welcome!)


	7. Falling Behind

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Complicated Simplicity**_

**_Chapter Seven: Falling Behind_**

Clark Kent tapped out the final word of his article with a slightly more grandiose gesture than usual, a content smile on his face. Mostly because he had been working on this article for the past week or so, and his various interviewees had been, to put it lightly, difficult.

Lois had once told him that she didn't understand how he could be a good reporter. He was simply too polite and courteous to get into all those hard to reach places and get those hard to hear answers.

And yet, here he was, yet again beating Lois Lane to the by-line.

"Hey Clark. You almost done?"

Jimmy sat on the edge of his desk nonchalantly, fiddling with the lens of his camera.

"Just about. I need to look it over for typos, but that can wait."

Just a formality, really. His brain moved at such a pace, he rarely made spelling errors. Except when he was writing. His handwriting was atrocious, and everybody told him so.

"Great. And… thanks again for letting me tag along."

"It's not like it's a chore, Jimmy. You're quickly becoming the best photographer we've got."

"I dunno. The Metropolis Watcher's got this girl who's…" Jimmy trailed off as he saw Clark looking across the room, frowning. "Clark?"

"Hm? Oh, sorry Jimmy. I just noticed someone I know."

"Yeah?" Jimmy turned around. "Who?"

"Someone from Central City."

Jimmy peered through the crowd of bustling reporters to see a young, parka wearing red haired man waving enthusiastically to Clark.

"What's his name?"

"Wally West."

"_Wally?_"

Clark waved his Central City friend over. Jimmy was rather surprised with how fast Wally got over to them.

"Hey… Clark," he said, sounding uncomfortable using the name.

"Wally. What brings you by? I wasn't expecting to see you here."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, it's uh… I kinda wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh. Of course, of course. Uh, Jimmy, I'll have to take a rain check. Ask Lois, I'm sure she'd like to cover the opening ceremony."

The photographer snorted. "Yeah, right…" He extended his hand to Wally. "Hi. I'm Jimmy Olsen."

Wally shook it. "Wally West. Nice to meet you."

Wally had never gotten the hang of the 'pretending to meet someone for the first time when you've actually met them in your other identity' thing. He always felt like such an ass.

Jimmy nodded. "Yeah… well, I'll see you guys later." He turned and left. "Maybe they'll let me in by myself. Peter Parker gets into all these places, and that's without changing into Spider-Man…"

A 'what are you going to do?' smile spread across Clark's face, and Wally returned it uncomfortably.

"Wally? Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I just…" He glanced around the room. "Look, can we talk about this… _somewhere else_?" he hinted.

Clark nodded. "Right. Just let me save this and we'll get going."

"Thanks."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elongated Man winced at the display on the wall in front of him.

"Lovely," he grumbled.

"Yeah, it's a real mess."

Ralph turned to face Detective Morillo. His hands firmly in his pockets, he was casting an almost disinterested gaze on the proceedings around him.

"What happened?"

The police officer shrugged. "We're not sure. Coroner said he was thrown into the wall."

Ralph turned his head around, but not his body. The wall was cracked, as though something had impacted with it at high speed. The only time Ralph had seen anything like it was when Flash accidentally ran into a wall. One mocha later, he'd been fine.

Judging by the blood that was pasted on the wall, this guy hadn't been.

"That's one heck of a throw."

"No kidding."

"And what about the other three?" he asked, turning back.

"Same thing, but they were lucky. Some concussions and broken bones, but they're alive."

"Did they say who did it?"

Morillo nodded. "Said he was wearing a purple and black uniform."

Ralph cocked an eyebrow. "Purple and black?"

"Sounds like something one of your Watchtower workers would wear."

He nodded.

"Want to hear something interesting?"

"There's more?"

"A janitor found a black and purple uniform in the Flash Museum this morning."

"The Flash Museum?"

"Said it was torn up to hell, but it had a name tag. Richards. Does that mean anything to you?"

Ralph nodded thoughtfully. "Richards' uniform was stolen yesterday."

"You have any suspects?"

"Not yet. It was stolen while he was wearing it."

"And he didn't see who did it?"

"Nope. He said that it was there one second, gone the next."

"Any other strange occurrences I should know about?"

"You know that Hunter Zolomon was in the Metro Tower, right?"

"After Murmur attacked him."

"Yeah. Well… he disappeared too, and just before Richards' uniform disappeared."

"So… whoever took the uniform and did this," he said, gesturing to the remains of the gang member plastered behind Ralph, "took Hunter as well?"

Ralph frowned. "Maybe. Or…" His nose began to shake.

"Are… you okay?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. It does that when there's a mystery."

"You're kidding."

"Is this the face of a kidder?" he asked with a straight face, his nose continuing to shake.

"I… guess not." Morillo shook himself from staring. "So you think that… this could be Zolomon?"

"Maybe. I'm just considering the possibilities." He cocked an eyebrow. "'Zolomon'? Are you two not on good terms?"

He shrugged. "He didn't get close to anyone. He's got some issues, that guy."

Ralph 'hmm'ed again, and looked back to the wall.

"But he wouldn't do this. He's a good cop, Dibny."

"Oh, no doubt. I read up on some of his work." He looked back to Morillo. "But even the best of us have dark sides." Two fingers stretched to his communicator. "Elongated Man, ready for pickup."

Morillo cocked an eyebrow. "Aren't you just going to teleport?"

Ralph shook his head. "They were busted when we-" Something occurred to him. "…tried to teleport Hunter."

"What? You got something?"

"Maybe… was anything stolen or vandalised at the Flash Museum?"

"A costume was stolen, but that's it."

"Which one?"

"Uh… a robot Flash, I think."

Ralph frowned. "Robot Flash?"

"Something like that. I'd have to call in and check."

"No, it's okay. I'll do it." He put his fingers to his ear. "Reign check on the pick up." He ripped the earpiece from his head in response to the yelling that ensued. He looked back to Morillo. "Never jerk about a flaming Brazilian."

"Noted."

Ralph turned and stretched his leg down the street.

"Before you go…"

He turned his head around.

"…where's Flash? No offence to you, but I was expecting him to check in on this."

"He's… working through some things."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So why'd you come to me?"

"Just… a feeling, I guess."

"Wally."

"Yeah?"

"Why?"

Wally was silent for a moment.

"Ultra Humanite told me to."

"Ultra Humanite… told you to."

"Yeah."

"The Ultra Humanite."

"Yeah."

"And you… didn't know why?"

"Uh, no."

Clark sighed. "It's because of what happened with Cadmus, Wally."

"It… is?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the road as he and Clark sped along to the Metro Tower.

"Yes. You remember? Justice Lord Superman killed his Lex Luthor, and everyone else was worried I might do the same."

"Oh, yeah. That."

He sighed again. "The point is, I know what you're going through." They skidded to a halt at the entrance to the Metro Tower.

Clark turned to face him. "Personally? I don't think you've got anything to worry about."

"How'd you figure?"

The Man of Steel thought for a moment. He smiled. "Let's go the Flash Museum."

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One of the many patrons of the Flash Museum reeled in shock as they saw Elongated Man's head peer over the top of the Gorilla Grodd display.

He smiled nervously. "Oh. Sorry, ma'am."

She didn't seem too settled by the apology, so she settled for scowling and unsurely going off to the Turtle Man display.

Ralph sighed and got back to work. At least, he would have done if he knew where the hell he was going in the Flash Museum. He had only been here once at Wally's urging, and despite his keen detective mind, he had gotten lost within five minutes of being left alone there.

"Uh, excuse me," he said, tapping another customer on the shoulder. "Do you know where the Justice Lord Flash exhibit is?"

"Da what?"

"The… Justice Lord Flash exhibit."

"Boy, you just said a whole bunch a' words I don't understand."

"Oh. Well, thank you for your help."

"Ralph?"

He turned his head around to see Wally West and Clark Kent stood behind him in their civilian apparel. He cleared his throat heroically.

"Oh, I, uh… It's… only Ralph to my friends and colleagues, sir, and I'm afraid I have no idea who you are, so you'll have to call me Elongated Man. Or Mr Dibny."

Wally smiled. "Okay, okay. Why're you here?"

"I'm looking into a crime committed earlier today. I was looking for the Justice Lord Flash exhibit. Would you be able to direct me?"

"Uh… this way."

Wally led his two companions through a veritable maze of corridors, all of them adorned with pictures and photos of the Flash's exploits.

"This is all you?" Clark whispered.

Wally shook his head. "Nah, the other Flashes are in here too."

They turned a corner and entered the Justice Lord Flash exhibit room. Except where the costume would be merely stood a bare mannequin.

A frown crossed the speedster's face. "What the-? Where is it?" He looked at Ralph. "Is that why you're here?"

Elongated Man looked from side to side uncomfortably. "Partly… listen, um, _sir_, I can't very well discuss this Justice League business with you." He leant in closer. "I'll tell you back at the Metro Tower." With a wink and an official looking wave, he left the two superheroes alone in the room.

Wally looked at Clark. "So, uh… why'd you want to bring me here?"

"Funnily enough, to look at that," he said, nodding to the mannequin.

"Uh… why?"

"Just hear me out. The Justice Lords were just like us, except they were…"

"Evil."

"…misguided."

"Evil sounds better."

"Wally…"

"Sorry, go on."

"Anyway. They were misguided. And, if you think about it, that would mean that the Justice Lord Flash would have been like that as well."

"Okay, I'm with you."

"Right. And why did the Justice Lords go rogue?"

"Because… their Flash died. And some other stuff, apparently."

"Okay then. So the Justice Lord Flash was the conscience of their group."

"Okay."

"And he wouldn't kill. Just like you won't."

"Right…" He frowned. "I'm not seeing you point."

"My point is, if the Justice Lord Flash, who is, uh…"

"Evil."

Clark sighed. "If an evil version of you can't kill, then what hope do you have?"

Wally nodded, scrutinising Clark. "You _do _know that theory has about a hundred holes in it."

The Man of Steel shrugged, just smiling. "Did you it make you feel better?"

"…kinda."

"Then it's a good theory."

The familiar Flash grin returned, and Wally shook his head. "You're a real goofball when it comes down to it, aren't you?"

"Found me out."

Wally frowned. "But… what if you don't have a choice?"

"You always have a choice, Wally."

"That's a real nice thing to say, Clark, but… when it comes down to it I might… _have _to."

A heavy sigh escaped Clark's lips. "Wally…" he put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not easy. It wasn't easy for me when I thought you'd died because of Luthor."

This stopped the speedster from replying. He looked over at the mannequin. "You know… I was so scared back then."

"Scared? Of what?"

"That I was that important. I mean, I may have joked around about it, but… geez, was I scared after that whole Justice Lords thing." He smiled. "Y'know… some lobotomised lady bad guy of Batman's told me to look out for you. How crazy is that?"

Clark wasn't sure which part Wally thought was crazy; the fact that someone had to look out for Superman, or the fact that one of Batman's rogues was the one to tell him to do so.

"Come on," the Man of Steel said, smiling, "I'll buy you a coffee."

"From the Flash Museum café?"

"Whatever you like."

They turned and made their way out of the exhibit. "Thanks, Clark."

He shrugged. "What kind of Superman would I be if I couldn't cheer up my friends?"

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Ralph tapped away on the computer console, using special clearance he had… acquired from the Question to gain access to the Central City Police Department computer system.

He hid his face as a particularly irritated Fire stormed past the corridor behind him. The computer bleeped, and Ralph returned to his work.

Hunter Zolomon. Ralph wasn't sure what it was about the man that was making his nose twitch, but if he had learned anything during his career as a super powered detective, it was to follow his nose. And when he looked at that blank mannequin in the Flash Museum, his nose was pointing straight at Rogue profiler Hunter Zolomon.

A Rogue profiler who used to work with the FBI, according to police records.

"Found something?"

The stretchy detective almost bounced out of his seat at the sudden interruption. Scowling, he whipped his head around to look at Nightwing.

"Got your dad's ability to walk through walls, I see."

"He's not my dad."

"Fair enough."

Nightwing came forward in his wheelchair, seeming to begrudge the device for even existing.

"So what are we looking at here?"

Ralph stayed silent.

"I'm a friend of Wally's. I just want to help."

At the use of the Flash's real name, Ralph loosened up slightly. "His name's Hunter Zolomon."

"Flash's profiler friend?"

"Mmm-hmm. There was a series of crimes in Central City yesterday a few seconds after Zolomon disappeared from the Metro Tower."

"Whoa, whoa. A few _seconds_? And you think he's a suspect?"

He shrugged. "I've just got a feeling. The nose knows," he said, pointing to the relevant growth on his face.

"Right…"

He sighed. "Look, I haven't got anything concrete. That's why I'm looking up his file."

"All right, all right. So what _have_ you found?"

"He used to work with the FBI. He graduated top of his class in Metahuman Criminal Psychology. Met his wife there too. They got hitched pretty shortly after they graduated."

"What'd they do in the FBI?"

"Rogue profiling."

"Mr Zolomon's had a wide and varied career, I see."

"Don't judge him too harshly. His father murdered his mother."

"Why?"

"Because the mother was about to blow the whistle on his father."

"What was he doing?"

"Killing schoolgirls."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so… you can't blame him for being a little screwed up. It's not a whole lot different to some of the stories some of our guys have."

"Tell me about it." Nightwing shook himself out of it. "So. Working as a Rogue profiler."

Ralph nodded. "Right. Real close to Ashley's father too."

"Ashley?"

"His wife."

"Oh, right."

"Well, they eventually went after some crazy guy called Lyle Corley, AKA 'The Clown'."

"Never heard of him."

"Yeah, says here he's kinda dead."

"Because of Zolomon?"

Ralph nodded. "You called it. Apparently, Hunter was pretty sure that Corley wouldn't be armed with a gun. Thought he'd use exploding whoopee cushions and stuff like that."

"Bad call?"

"Yeah. Corley blasted off Zolomon's kneecap, and then killed his father in law."

"God…"

"His wife killed the Clown, but it was pretty much a downward slide after that. The FBI let him go, his wife filed for divorce…" He let out a breath through his nose. "Pretty nasty stuff."

"And you think he's responsible for… what?"

"Well, first, a Metro Tower worker's uniform was stolen, _while the guy was wearing it_. One second he was wearing his uniform, the next it was gone. Then, literally a few seconds later, a gang of hoods in Central City are splattered all over road. It looked like they'd been slammed into the walls faster than Superman. And then, Richards' uniform – nametag included - shows up in the Flash Museum torn up to hell, and one of the costumes from the Museum goes missing."

"Which one?"

"The Justice Lord Flash."

"But there wasn't a Justice Lord Flash. Wally told me so."

Ralph nodded. "Yeah, but when the League went up against Brainiac and Lex Luthor, they fought some robots that were made up to look like the Justice Lords. And Luthor being the considerate fella he is, made one for Flash. The costume looked pretty much the same as Flash's, except the colours were reversed. Yellow where the red should be and vice versa."

"And you think Hunter stole it?"

"I have a hunch." He frowned at the haunted face staring back at him from the console. "I just hope this one isn't right."

"How often does that happen?"

The Elongated Man didn't look at him. "If we count this time? Once."

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"So, how's Linda?"

The two had taken their coffee to go, considering it was such a fresh, Central City day.

"She's great, last time I checked. I, uh… haven't really talked to her much since the prison breakout."

"That's not good."

"No. I will now, though. Everything seems pretty okay right now."

Clark frowned. "When was the last time you checked in to the Metro Tower, Wally?"

"Um… just after Hunter was admitted. Why?"

The Man of Steel looked him in the eye. "Hunter's missing, Wally. He disappeared yesterday."

"He what?"

"I thought you knew."

"If I knew, I wouldn't be here! I'd be- do we know who did it?"

"No. Mr Terrific's got people looking into it, th-"

A sudden boom interrupted him, making him yell out in pain and grasp his ears. He put a hand on Wally's shoulder to steady himself.

"You okay?"

He nodded, breathless. "Yeah. I just-"

Another boom filled the air, and he shouted out once again, this time falling to one knee.

"Clark, what is it?"

He grunted with effort as he got to his feet. "Sonic… boom…"

"Huh?"

"Something moving past-"

"The speed of sound, I know, but you and I are here, so-"

Another boom sounded, this one closer. Clark winced and once again fell to his knee.

"Do you... do you know anyone who could do this?"

"Uh… a few, but they're either dead or retired. Or…" He frowned. "Bart?"

"Kid Flash? You think he would-" he stopped and covered his ears to protect his sensitive ear drums from the new boom.

"I don't think so. But there's only one way to find out."

Clark nodded to him, and the two ducked into a nearby alleyway.

Wally West pressed his Flash ring, and his costume sprang out. Within an instant, he was ready.

Clark Kent whirled at super speed, sending his clothes to all corners of the alleyway. When he stopped, only the invincible visage of Superman remained.

The two shot out of the alleyway and headed for the source of the booms, guided by Superman's pained ears.

They came to a stop in front of a building site, the bare, precarious looking skeleton of the building giving both of the heroes a bad feeling in their guts. Opposite the site stood a building scheduled for demolition. It was a strange sight, like seeing a baby boy and an old man stood next to each other. Like a comparison of old and new. If Flash was in a contemplative mood (which he rarely was, admittedly), he probably would have thought more of it.

Flash looked over to Superman.

"You sure it was over here?"

He didn't respond. "Supes?"

Still no response.

"Supes!"

The Man of Steel turned to face him. "Sorry. My ears are ringing. What were you saying?"

"I said, are you sure this is the place?"

He nodded. "Positive."

"Well, the booms have stopped… but I can't see what-"

The middle of the old building beside them exploded with a mighty roar, sending chunks of debris of varying sizes out in all directions. Superman and Flash got to work, the speedster clearing people out of the way as the Man of Steel did his best to make the larger pieces of debris more manageable.

The top half of the weakened building began to give way, toppling towards a busy road on the other side.

"Supes!" Flash yelled, pointing, but Superman was already on it.

Clark positioned himself below the building, holding his hands up in preparation for the weight. Wally zoomed out into the road, pulling people from the street and stopping cars in their paths.

A flash of yellow caught Wally's attention, and his eyes followed it to the construction site.

_Mr Sonic Boom, I presume?_

After making sure all civilians were safely out of the way of the building that was now Superman's wrestling partner, Flash took off into the construction site.

Nothing.

He looked around, and saw no-one. All of the construction equipment had been left idle.

"Flash."

He whipped around, looking for the source of the whispering voice. Finding nothing, he turned back.

And came face to face with himself.

He backed up, surprised, but quickly adopted a fighting stance.

"Nice costume, sunshine."

"WllyWstwillfltrgdy."

"Say what?"

A sudden blow to the chin was his answer, knocking him onto his back and along the sandy ground. Flash shook his head and rubbed his sore chin. He hadn't even seen that coming. His eyes widened beneath his mask.

The reverse Flash was gone.

"What the-?"

He leapt to his feet and yelled out in pain as his elusive opponent struck him in the small of his back. Wally stumbled forward and turned around.

He was just standing there, staring at him.

"Who are you?" he shouted.

For a moment, he was silent.

"Zoom."

Then he was gone.

Something slammed into Wally hard, shooting him back and into a girder. Groaning, Wally struggled to get back up to his feet, desperately trying to blink the stars out of his eyes.

As his vision cleared, he once again saw his opponent standing in front of him.

"So… you're the guy who stole the costume from the Museum, huh?"

"Trgdy. Ywllknwtrgdy."

"Yeah, fleebeefleebeeflob to you too."

Zoom brought his fist back.

And then disappeared as Superman shot right through him.

The Man of Steel came to a halt and turned back to look down at Wally from where he floated above him.

"I can't see him," he shouted far too loudly. His ears were obviously still ringing. "He must be a teleporter."

Flash hissed through his teeth as he felt his broken ribs knitting together in the wrong configuration inside him.

"Maybe…" he gasped. "I dunno, though."

"What?" Clark asked, landing beside him.

"Uh, nothing."

"I think we should-"

A blur of yellow appeared around the Man of Steel, and suddenly he was gone.

"Supes?" Flash put his hand to his ear. "Supes, can you hear me?"

Zoom reappeared in front of him.

"What have you done with him?"

"Heneedstostyaway. Onlyou."

"Uh… that's flattering, but I'd really like to have him here."

His opponent smiled. It was a crooked, haunting smile. "Jokes. Alwysjkes. I'llchngetht."

Zoom buried his fist in Wally's gut more times than the speedster could see. Flash doubled over and fell to his knees, coughing and retching.

"Iwllteachyou, Flash."

Wally looked up. Zoom was gone.

"I'llmakeyoubetter."

Flash's communicator beeped. Wally ignored it, intent on first catching his breath. It continued to beep as he controlled his breathing and got to his feet, gingerly holding his ribcage with his left arm.

He reached up and answered the call. "Yeah?"

"_Flash, are you all right?"_

"Yeah, I'm fine, T. Do you know where Supes is?"

"_Alaska."_

Wally blanched. "What?"

"_He's in Alaska. Your new playmate relocated him across the world in less than a second."_

Still out of breath, Wally looked around the construction site.

"I'll make you better…" he said to himself.

Wally prayed Zoom was talking about group therapy.

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	8. On the Run

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited_

_**Complicated Simplicity**_

**_Chapter Eight: On the Run_**

Linda stopped as she stepped into the editing room to look at what was on the monitor.

"Are you _still _editing his speech?"

Marla numbly looked over to her. "I… his speech… it went on for three hours. _Three hours, Linda. _But it's… _so_ damn boring… I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying enough to take the stuff for the report. I've had to watch this five times. _Five times!_ And still I haven't gotten anything interesting."

"Wait, three hours, five…" her eyes almost popped out of her head. "You've been in here for _fifteen hours?"_

The camerawoman turned in her swivel chair and grabbed Linda by the waist. "Help me."

A smile cracked its way onto Linda's face. "Okay, I'll take over for a bit. You go and get some coffee or something."

"Coffee? _Coffee?_ I don't think you understand just how boring this guy is," she said, pointing at the paused image of Dreamslayer on the monitor. "He'll take your _soul_, Linda."

"Just go," Linda said, shaking her head with an amused smile.

Marla couldn't vacate fast enough. "I'll get some sleep, and then we'll see."

Linda slid into the chair as she heard this. "Sleep? Wait, don't leave me here for-"

The door slammed shut.

"-ever."

She sighed and rested her head on her hand. Idly, she fiddled with some of the sound level dials, watching with vague interest as Dreamslayer's voice faded in and out.

Of course, her mind wasn't exactly on the job at hand. The only reason she had come to see Marla was because she was going stir crazy everywhere else. Wally was one of the best things to happen to her in a long time, but she'd be damned if he didn't frustrate her sometimes with how he would suddenly shut himself off when something serious happened.

A brief chat with Shayera Hol at a Christmas party had informed her that Wally was like that with everyone when it came to serious events.

So it wasn't just her. Linda wondered whether she should feel offended or flattered by that fact. On screen, Dreamslayer wrapped his cape around himself dramatically.

What a way to leave a girl hanging. The last thing he said was a meek little 'sorry' after rescuing her from a woman who could have burnt the flesh from her bones. Then he shot off to save the day.

And the whole disappearing afterwards thing; Linda wasn't about to forget that.

She felt a slight breeze, and irritably looked over at the window, expecting Marla to have left it open.

It was closed.

A hand touched on her shoulder.

"Oh, you're still here. Thank God."

She turned to see Wally looking at her with such relief in his pale blue eyes that all anger she had towards him was pushed aside

Not forgotten, mind, just pushed aside.

"Wally? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Well. Yeah, something. We gotta get you out of here."

"What? Why?"

"I'll explain once we're out of here, okay?"

"No, you'll explain now. You just disappeared without so much as an 'I'm okay' over the phone. Wouldn't you call that just a _little_ inconsiderate?"

"You're right, you're right. Let's go."

"Wally, don't-" she sighed. "Don't just brush this off, Wally."

"Linda, some guy called Zoom just beat the crap out of me _and _Superman!" he hissed. "You remember that name, right?"

Her silence confirmed as much.

"Okay," Wally said, "so you'll understand why I have to get you somewhere safe, right? Because this guy is faster than me and I don't know how much he knows."

He held out his hand to her, and she took it. Wally led her into the corridor and checked up and down.

A hand instantly went to his ear. "T. I've got a visitor to bring up."

"_Teleporters are still offline, Flash. Can you get to a Javelin?"_

"No. I'm in Central City. Are there any near me?"

"_Vigilante is flying over Coast City right now. I'll divert him."_

Wally nodded. "Okay. Thanks, T."

Linda raised her eyebrows half expectantly and half curiously. "Well?"

"The teleporters are out, but T's sending a Javelin to pick you up."

She took a moment to take in her boyfriend's appearance. He looked like he had thrown on his clothes while he was running. His shoelaces weren't even tied.

Wally never left his shoes untied.

"Wally… how fast is he?"

"Fast. I couldn't even see him. He went to Alaska in a second."

"But… you can do that, can't you?"

"Sure, once I get rolling. But Zoom is zero to light speed in like, no seconds." He squeezed her hand. "C'mon. GL said I should try to hide you somewhere Zoom wouldn't think to look."

"GL? As in Green Lantern?"

"Uh-huh. He's out looking for Zoom along with about six other guys."

Wally led Linda around another corner, then another. He stopped and looked at her sheepishly. "Uh… I kinda have no idea where I'm going."

Linda shook her head and led the way for her hapless hero. "Heck of a knight in shining armour you're turning out to be."

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The doors to the command center of the Metro Tower slid open, and Shayera Hol stepped through, heading straight for her quarry.

Superman was stood in front of the main communications console, talking to the onscreen Vixen. He nodded in response to something she said. "All right. Tell John I'll join you in a minute. Superman out."

He spotted her as she walked over to him, and, with the teleporters out, started for the nearest window. "I know what you want to do, Shayera, but-"

"Is he okay?"

A frown deepened his already heavy brow. "When I last saw him, he had two broken ribs, a twisted ankle and too many cuts and bruises to count."

"I want to help."

Clark stopped to look at her. "No, Shayera. We're only letting members with at least _some _super speed take part in the search. Me, Vixen, Hawk, Dove, Diana… even GL has some thanks to his ring. And I know you're fast, but-"

"I understand. Where's Wally?"

"We don't know. He thought it best not to tell any of us in case Zoom was listening."

"He's that fast?"

All the Man of Steel could do was nod. He continued on his way to the window. After a pause, he looked over his shoulder at Shayera, only to find she was no longer there. He looked around the command center.

"Shayera?"

After another few seconds, he shrugged and went to the window. He was about to open it and fly out when something clicked in his head. He put his fingers to his earpiece.

"Shayera, come in."

No response. Just static.

"Shayera!"

Still nothing. Clark grit his teeth and changed channels. "Mr Terrific, locate Shayera for me."

"_She's in the Metro Tower."_

"_Where _in the Metro Tower?"

"_In the command center. She should be right next to you."_

Using his supervision, Clark looked around the room. His heart leapt up into his throat when he spotted Shayera's communicator on the ground where she had once been stood. In a second he was already there, the small round device between his fingers.

"Shayera's gone."

Mr Terrific was silent for a moment. _"He's going after Flash's friends."_

They both came to the same realisation at the same time.

"Lantern!"

Superman shot out of the window, the updraft left in his wake pulling papers from people's hands and leaving capes flapping.

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In the Watchtower, Mr Terrific helplessly attempted to raise Green Lantern.

"Lantern, come in. Green Lantern, come in."

He sighed, and contacted Superman.

"Mr Terrific to Superman. Lantern's gone. I'm still reading him in Central City, though."

There was nothing on Superman's end.

"Superman?"

"_I'm here. What do you want to do?"_

Mr Terrific thought for only a moment before responding. "Go to Central City and carry on the search."

"_Is there anyone else who's publicly friends with Flash?"_

"Off the top of my head I can only think of Hawkman and Elongated Man."

"_Both of whom are on the Watchtower."_

"Right."

A noise came over the channel which sounded like Superman sighing. Mr Terrific had never heard it before from the Man of Steel. It was a bit disconcerting, if the super intelligent hero was honest with himself.

"_So, Central City?"_

"Right. Maybe you'll get lucky, maybe you won't. The point is that you'll distract him."

"_While you do what?"_

Mr Terrific pressed a sequence of keys on the control panel beside him, bringing up a list of reserve Justice Leaguers.

"While I bring in the reinforcements."

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Linda poked the leather bra on the rack as though it were some alien creature.

"You know, Wally," she whispered, "when your friends recommended you take me somewhere Zoom wouldn't think of going, I don't think they meant a lingerie store."

"A _specialist _lingerie store. I'm the everyman of the League, remember? Why would the everyman be in such a fancy place?" He smiled. "Besides… you'd look good in some of this stuff…"

The look he gave him almost made Wally think he had another head growing out of his neck.

"Are you kidding?"

"What?"

"How can you stand around making dirty jokes at a time like this? You may be used to this stuff, Wally, but I'm a _real _newbie!" she whispered harshly.

"Look, just-"

"'Just'? 'Just'? Do you even get how scared I am right now? I'm not Lois Lane or, or, Batgirl or something, Wally! I'm just an ordinary person! This is Zoom we're talking about here. In some other dimension or something like that he killed me and turned you into a psycho!"

"I know, all right!? I know!" he yelled, towering over Linda with an intensity in his eyes she only thought only possible by Batman. Seeing the shock in her eyes, he backed off. His pale blue eyes softened, and he quickly looked around the room. The store clerk behind the desk looked at them over her magazine, but soon returned to it, probably assuming it was another young couple having a miscommunication about their 'preference'.

He looked back at Linda, rubbing his hands together anxiously. "Look, I… I know you're scared. So am I! This is… this is just how I deal with it. Sorry."

Linda felt worse and better at the same time. She took Wally's fidgeting hands in her own. "Thanks." She nodded out the store window, although she couldn't see it from where they were stood hidden behind a rack of fetish leather bras. "Anyway, you said the Justice League was outside looking for the guy. If the Justice League can't find him and stop him, then who can, huh?"

She meant for it to sound encouraging. Only when the words left her lips did she realise how hopeless they sounded.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pen tapped against his lower lip in idle concentration. For God's sake, he wasn't this old. He could do a simple crossword puzzle. And_ not only _was he not that old, he had a brain that could move at the speed of sound! Why the hell shouldn't he be able to figure out a ten letter word beginning with 'c' meaning a bird?

"Jay?"

He didn't answer.

"Jay, would you mind getting that?"

"Mmm."

Joan Garrick stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room, rubbing her hands with her apron. "For God's sake, Jay, the phone's right next to you."

"Hmm?" He looked up at her over the newspaper, only now realising that she was glaring at him. "What?"

She nodded at the ringing phone on the coffee table beside his chair.

"Oh. I'll… I'll get it."

He reached over to pick up the phone.

"You wouldn't happen to know a ten letter word beginning with 'c' meaning a bird?"

"Jay, I swear to God-"

"All right, all right!" He picked up the phone. "Garrick residence, Jay Garrick speaking."

After a few 'mmm-hmm's and some questioning 'really?'s, Jay put the phone down with a 'I'll be there in a minute'.

He got up and headed up the stairs.

"Jay? Who was it?"

Before she could think to ask again, Jay was coming down the stairs wearing clothes that Joan had never expected to see again.

The yellow wing tipped red boots, the jeans, the red sweater adorned with the simple yet striking yellow lightning bolt…

"What's wrong, Jay?"

"Wally's in trouble." He gave his wife a peck on the cheek as though he were just going out for another day at the office. "Tell Alan I'm sorry I couldn't be here for dinner. And the golf." He opened the front door, paused, and turned back. "And tell him not to touch my crossword."

"But Jay-"

He shot out the door, the gust of wind following closing it behind him.

Joan turned and numbly headed for the kitchen.

The door opened, and Jay popped his head through. "What?"

"I was just going to ask where your helmet was."

Absentmindedly mouthing the word 'helmet', Jay put his hand on his head. He looked upwards in thought, still mouthing the word repeatedly.

He snapped his fingers. "The Flash Museum. Thanks honey."

Jay again sped away, and Joan turned back to the kitchen, feeling a bit more content.

It really was silly of Wally to race around like that without a helmet on.

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John groaned in a mix of grogginess and genuine pain. Trained and almost unblinking eyes took in his surroundings. He was in a cabin, and a pretty dilapidated one, at that.

Another groan from his side alerted him to the presence of another in the room, and he rolled away from it instinctively. It was then that he realised that he no longer had his ring. His hands scrabbled around behind him for something he could use to cut his rope bonds, but found nothing.

"Oh, yom shigureth…"

John relaxed. "Glad to see I'm not alone."

Shayera's silhouette came up to look at him. "John?"

"Yeah. You okay?"

"Ugh… fine. These ropes are a little tight, though."

"Tell me about it."

"No, he's… tied my wings."

"You okay?"

"I said I'm fine."

"Look, I was just asking. Those wings of yours are… sensitive."

They both knew how he knew that.

John was thankful the cabin was quite dark. Shayera couldn't see him blushing that way.

She grunted with effort. "I think he drugged me with something. I feel kind of groggy."

"You think it's anything serious?"

"Don't think so. It's just to stop us from busting out of here." Her head turned as she looked around the room, her eyes eventually coming to settle on him. "What about you? I'm guessing you don't have your ring."

He shook his head. "No. And I can't see a damn thing, either. Hard to summon it to me if I can't see it."

"If Zoom even left it close by. The speed he moves, he could have buried it so far down you'd never find it."

"What a pleasant thought," John grumbled, shuffling around as he tried to loosen the bonds around his wrists and ankles. "He sure has got these things on tight."

He saw her hair fall lightly around her shoulders as she shrugged. "Well, he sure had the time. The way Superman describes his speed, he could probably come in here, tighten the ropes, and then leave again before we even noticed anything."

"Again, thank you."

"Sorry."

Silence descended between them.

"Y'know," John grunted, throwing his weight so that he could sit up and lean against a wall. "I always _thought _that Wally would be the one to get us alone in a room together."

Her smile was practically audible. "Me too."

"Although, I admit, it wasn't in quite such, um…"

"…'Unique décor'?"

He was silent for a moment. "You've been hanging around with him way too much."

"I know."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It barely occurred to him anymore that she was saying anything. Her chant had become as much a part of his daily routine as waffles for breakfast and arguments about tofu for every other meal.

So when they were interrupted, it naturally concerned Cyborg, because it not only disturbed his Teen Titans team-mate Raven, it messed up his whole routine, his 'karma', if you will.

Victor Stone looked up from his browsing of the latest STAR Labs science journals. "You okay, Raven?"

"I'm… fine," she said, slowly dropping out of her floating cross-legged posture to stand on her feet. "Something just… distracted me."

He got up at that. Nothing much distracted Raven.

Except Beast Boy and certain types of cheese, but no-one mentioned that.

"What's goin' on?"

She continued staring out across the bay. "It's… Wally."

"Is he in trouble?"

"He's… panicking."

Cyborg made his way across the living room of Titans Tower. Raven didn't often feel the emotions of those so far away. Only those who were, or _had _been, especially close to her. The original five Titans were on that list, Cyborg included.

Wally was also one of those few people.

"Say no more." He turned to leave, heading straight for the T ship. "Let me get the others ready, and we'll-"

The view screen bleeped for attention. Cyborg looked over at Raven. "Is this about…?"

She nodded.

Without any further prompting, Cyborg accepted the call. Mr Terrific appeared onscreen.

"This is Titans Tower. We know about Flash. What do you want us to do?"

Cyborg was expecting Terrific to be at least a _little _surprised at his foreknowledge of Wally's predicament, but the Justice League co-ordinator didn't even bat an eyelid.

"_Is Kid Flash there?"_

"Yeah, but-"

"_Can you tell him to get over to Central City?"_

"By himself? I don't think that's-"

"_There's someone running around in Central City who's even faster than the Flash. If you went along, then you'd only get in the way."_

"Then consider us in the way."

"_Look, I understand your feelings about this, but-"_

"The hell you do. Flash is family here. And while I don't know about you, _we _don't leave our family to face things alone."

Mr Terrific clenched his jaw and he rose from his chair. Obviously Vic had hit a nerve. _"Cyborg… Even Superman couldn't touch Zoom."_

Cyborg's eyes widened slightly. Mr Terrific didn't notice.

"_Do you really think you'll be able to stop him?"_

Victor stared at him blankly for a few seconds.

"All right. Kid Flash'll be there. But so will we."

"_No, you **won't**. Listen, he's been going after Flash's closest friends. If you show up there, you'll be prime targets, and you know how ruthless Flash **isn't**, especially when it comes to friends in danger."_

He wanted to object. But Mr Terrific's words made sense.

He sighed and pushed an internal comm button.

"Kid Flash, get over to Central City. Flash needs your help."

After a few seconds' delay, Bart responded.

"_Uh, Cyborg? Aren't the rest of you guys coming?"_

Slowly, he looked Mr Terrific in the eyes. "Not on this one, pal. It's something only you guys can handle."

"'_Us guys'?"_

"Speedsters, Bart. Look, I'm sure someone'll explain it to you once you get to Central City, and there isn't much time to discuss this right now. Just go, okay?"

"_Uh… right. Thanks, Cyborg."_

Cyborg nodded to Mr Terrific. "If things go badly-"

He nodded. _"I'll call you. Watchtower out."_

The screen winked off.

"Yeah, my ass…" Cyborg muttered. He walked over to the window and watched a yellow and red blur shoot out across the bay.

"Good luck, Bart."

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The store clerk was beginning to get impatient.

"Look, I realise that you like to browse, but this is getting ridiculous. It's been two hours. Would you please buy something?"

Linda looked at her angrily. "Be patient. It's a very important decision." She nudged Wally, who was looking rather lustfully at some stockings.

"Um.. yes," he said, turning to face the clerk. "_very _important."

His communicator burst to life, making a screeching noise so piercing he had to remove it from his ear.

"Aaah! What the-?"

He froze as he saw the clerk staring at him.

"Whoa…" she smiled, enthralled. "I get it."

Wally winced.

"You're cops, aren't you? You're staking out…" she gasped excitedly. "You're staking out Benny's Pizzeria, aren't you? I _knew _those guys were dirty, I-"

Linda's frown deepened as she put her finger to her lips. "Sssh!" She turned back to Wally, who was tenderly putting the earpiece back in.

"Uh… hello?"

"_Wally."_

His expression hardened. "Who is this?"

"_You know, Wally."_

Wally changed the channel. "T, Zoom's talking to me on my communicator, try and-"

"_You will listen, Flash!"_

The speedster looked around nervously. "All right, all right. Okay. What do you want?"

"_You. Youwlcmtoctyhl."_

He frowned. "What? I don't understand you, what'd you say?"

"_City hall, Wally. You wilcme to cityhall, understand? Or yourfrendwlpaytheprce."_

"What? What are you talking about?"

"_I have them, Flash. Somewhere you don't know."_

"Who?"

"_Yr closest frnds. The GrnLantrn and Shreya Hol."_

Wally felt as though he had been punched in the gut. Not that he needed that kind of pain; the broken ribs that had healed the wrong way inside him gave him enough to worry about.

"_Do you understand? They. Will. Die."_

"All right, all right. I hear you, all right? I'm coming." He turned to Linda. "Sorry, but… I've gotta go."

"Why? What's going on?"

"He's gonna kill-" he noticed the shopping clerk, enthralled by their conversation. "-my friends if I don't go." He turned to go, but quickly whirled on his heel. "Don't go anywhere. Please, just stay here. If he got his hands on you, I don't…" the broken look on Wally's face made Linda want to cry. "… just please… don't go anywhere."

She nodded silently.

Wally felt like he should kiss her passionately. Or say something epic and/or romantic.

He settled for wrapping his arms around her in an embrace that seemed to last a year. With a smile he hoped was reassuring, he ran out of the shop at normal speed, turning it up a notch as soon as he was out on the street.

The store clerk looked to Linda. "Wow… Benny's gonna kill his friends, huh? I knew the guy was a jerk, but geez…"

Linda wondered if she would be arrested for killing the clerk on the spot.

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Wally came to a screeching halt in front of city hall, dressed in full Flash apparel. The place was pretty much deserted, which was most definitely odd for a Saturday evening.

It was either under the League's influence or Zoom's.

Wally prayed it was the former.

In front of the long stairway leading up to the hall was a statue of Central City's founder, Mr Kenyon. Wally was stood a few metres in front of it, his feet firmly planted in the middle of the road.

"Okay…" he muttered. "Okay! I'm here!"

No reply.

"Zoom!"

An amused grunt sounded behind him. Flash turned around to look at Zoom.

"Where are they?"

"Later." Zoom's smile disappeared, and then so did he.

His fist reappeared lodged in Wally's gut. Wally lurched over. Zoom slammed another fist into Wally's back. Then another to his chin, sending him hurtling back. Wally cracked into the base of the Kenyon statue.

Something warm trickled down his chin, and Wally wiped some blood from his mouth as he struggled to his feet.

"Why're you doing this?"

"You already know."

His eyes widened in alarm as he heard the voice behind him. He turned and back-pedalled as fast as he dared, keeping his eyes on Zoom the entire time, the predominantly yellow speedster now stood below the statue.

"Well, I obviously _don't _already know, so why don't you enlighten me, Mr Psycho?"

Zoom smiled. "Stl jking."

He disappeared, and suddenly Wally found himself in a headlock. "Laugh at this."

Zoom charged forward, taking Wally with him and slamming him head first into the base of the statue ahead of them.

Flash slumped to the ground, desperately trying to get to his feet. Zoom grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, pulling him up so they were face to face.

"Y'know…" Flash coughed. "You'd think I'd be used to having my head slammed into stuff. But it's one of those things you just never get used to."

The side of Zoom's lip curled in anger. In a movement so fast it threatened to make Flash nauseous, he tossed him over his shoulder and across the road, slamming him into the bottom of a lamppost. It bent down where Flash had hit it, the plastic casing around the bulb cracking as it hit the ground. It flashed off and on like a strobe light as Zoom slowly made his way over to him.

Wally couldn't tell if it was the light or Zoom that was making it seem as though he were leaping towards him.

Zoom stopped a few meters ahead of Wally. "Iknow where youhid her."

At those words, Wally's stomach fell down to his testicles. He hoped Zoom didn't notice.

"What're you talking about?"

"Youthink Ibrought you here to beat onyou?"

"Kinda, yeah."

"Ineeded to know whereshewas." He smiled. "NowIknow."

Wally grit his teeth and clenched his fists together on the hard road below him. He forced himself to stand, although he knew it wouldn't last, the way his strength levels were.

"And you know you can't stop me, Flaaaaaash. Youwillknow whatitis to seeyouuuuurrrlife destroyed, and feel powerless tostop it. You will know tragedy. You'll bebetter."

Zoom suddenly appeared in front of Wally's face. "And someday… you will thank me."

He brought back his fist.

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(A/N: If anyone gets the Mr Kenyon reference, then you're as big a comic nerd as I am, and I will hug you upon ever meeting you in person.

I'm sure most people reading this story know who Bart and Jay are (at least vaguely), but if you haven't, it's not really that important. Jay Garrick was the first Flash and fought in World War Two, and his super speed makes him age slower (I know, I don't get it either). Bart Allen is Wally's sidekick, is about 14/15, and is a member of the Teen Titans (in my little fanfic universe, that is). Not much to add there, really.

Anyway, review!)


	9. The Big Choices

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Complicated Simplicity**_

_**Chapter Nine: The Big Choices**_

Wally was coughing so much, he was pretty sure he was going to throw up a lung any time now.

Not that Zoom was going to give him the chance. A yellow hand grabbed him by the neck, pulling Wally closer to his face.

"Firrrrrrst, _you _will feel pain… and then _she _will."

"Dude…" he coughed. "You're sounding like a broken record. Literally."

"Jokes again?" Zoom smiled. "Theywillstop."

He brought his fist forward.

A red and blue blur slammed into Zoom's side, sending him careening down the street. Wally almost fell to the ground when two gentle hands caught him. His eyes slowly moved up the figure. The red boots, the blue jeans, the red sweater…

And the yellow wing tipped World War One helmet.

"Jay?"

The elder Flash smiled. "Sorry I'm late." He knocked the helmet with his fist. "Couldn't find the damn thing. You should really should give that Museum of yours some signposts."

"What're you doing here?"

"Your Justice League friends seemed to think you could use some help." A small smirk tugged at his lips. "Fast help."

Zoom picked himself up in what looked like three movements.

A red and yellow blur charged at him from behind, but instead ended up going straight through him.

The blur skidded to a halt in front of the two speedsters, revealing Kid Flash.

"Bart…" Wally said, smiling. It quickly faded, however. "What're you guys doing? Are you crazy? This guy-"

"Will try to kill us, blah, blah, blah," Bart finished, shaping his hand like a mouth.

Jay put a hand on Wally's shoulder. "We've been there, Wally. Believe me."

They all turned to face their opponent. Zoom wasn't moving.

"Itdoesn'tmatter, Wally!"

Jay and Bart looked at Flash, surprised that Zoom knew his real name.

Bart shrugged. "Eh. I think we can take him. I mean, how fast can he be?"

Wally didn't answer. He just gave Jay a reassuring nod so that the elder Flash would release him. He cracked his neck from side to side.

"Let's just stop him."

All three Flashes charged over to Zoom, Jay standing to his right, Wally to his left, and Bart behind him.

Zoom smiled. "Hh."

The yellow speedster spun like a top, his fist crashing into all three of his opponents and sending them in all directions. Wally hit the wall of the building behind him. Bart skidded down the road.

Jay held onto his helmet and reached down toward the ground, landing on his feet with an easy back flip. He heard something crack in his wrist, and frowned.

Damn. He didn't think he was _that _old.

Zoom appeared in front of him.

"JayGarrick. Youwere the frst."

"How astute. They weren't exaggerating when they said you were fast."

The blurring speedster's red eyes glowed more intensely behind the blue lenses. "_More_jokes?"

Jay shrugged, and readjusted his helmet. "All right, then. No more jokes."

With a burst of speed towards Zoom, Jay threw a right hook at him.

Zoom grabbed his fist. Using his hand in a pincer like shape, Zoom fired it into Jay's shoulder socket. He screamed and fell to one knee.

Zoom rammed his own knee into Jay's face, knocking him onto his back.

The warped speedster prepared to deliver another blow, when a smaller yellow and red blur leapt up onto his back.

With a guttural cry of frustration, Zoom stumbled back.

Jay pulled off his helmet with his left hand, trying to ignore the pain in his right arm. Using as much speed as he could muster, he tossed the disc-shaped helmet like a Frisbee, aiming for Zoom's head.

He easily swatted it away, and it careened away into the distance behind him. With sudden, jerky movements, he reached behind him and grabbed Bart from where he was perched.

Jay tried to get up as Zoom released Bart, throwing him full pelt into the elder Flash, both of them flying back and into one of the pillars supporting the entrance to City Hall. It cracked under impact, eventually crumbling on top of them.

Zoom turned to look for Wally.

A red fist slammed into him from his right, and Zoom ended up crashing into the base of Mr Kenyon's statue. It collapsed on top of him, and Wally let himself breath.

Taking a run up from Germany seemed to have done the trick.

The two fists that slammed into his back disagreed with that theory. Flash fell to the ground with a thud, and rolled over to see Zoom standing above him.

A sound not unlike that of a silent machine gun assaulted Wally's ears, and a sudden barrage of rocks and cement pelted Zoom.

Wally looked over and smiled at the display before him. The wise old man and immature kid, throwing rocks together. He looked back to Zoom to see how he was enjoying the display.

Except he wasn't there. He was suddenly stood behind Bart and Jay.

"That's _ENOUGH!"_ he roared. With a rage in his voice and on his face that genuinely frightened Wally, Zoom clapped his hands above him.

All sound stopped. Wally recognised the feeling. It was what he felt when he ran past the speed of sound.

Zoom could clap his hands together so fast they broke the sound barrier.

The shockwave blew Bart and Jay into the air, hurling both several blocks in opposite directions.

Wally himself was sent skidding along the ground from the sonic boom, having been far enough away to not take the brunt of it.

He didn't envy Bart and Jay right now.

Zoom was once again in front of him. "I will find her, Flash. Iwill find Lindaaaaa."

And then he was gone.

Flash desperately looked around, praying to whatever deity was listening that Zoom was behind him, preparing to attack.

Anything but going after Linda.

He forced himself to his feet, and almost fell over from the pain in his chest. The broken ribs weren't sitting well.

"Linda…"

Pushing past the pain, Wally shot off towards the lingerie store where he had left her, hoping that Linda hadn't decided to listen to his advice.

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John winced as he fell to the ground once again.

"Come on. The window's just there."

"Well, excuse me if I'm finding it difficult to kick out a window three feet above me while my hands and my arms are tied."

"I bet Carter could do it."

The Green Lantern scowled and redoubled his efforts, ineffectively trying to fling his legs up.

"You know… unff… you… would be… unff! A better choice for this."

"Why? Can't you do it?"

He stopped jumping to glare at her silhouette. "Of course I can do it. But you would be able to do it quicker. You're more…"

"What?"

"…aerodynamic." He paused. "What did you think I'd say?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"Yes you do."

"What, you're a mind reader now?"

John was silent for a moment. "Yes."

"Oh, is that right? Can you tell what I'm thinking right now?"

Silence filled the cabin as John thought about it.

"I don't think now would be the time or place, Shayera."

"Ha."

"If Wally were here, he'd find that hilarious."

Shayera didn't reply right away. "I hope he's all right."

Silently, John turned towards the window and continued his vain struggle to break the window.

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The Fastest Man Alive came to a halt in front of the doorway to the store. His weary knees hit the ground when he saw the wrecked interior.

And no Linda.

"No…" his head hung. "God…"

"Wally."

He turned, desperation filling him. Zoom was stood in the middle of the road, an unconscious Linda in his arms.

"Put her down," he hissed through clenched teeth, his jaw set.

Zoom smiled. "Justlike Iron Heights."

"What?"

"Volcaaaaana. Youtold her to letLindago, too."

"How do-" Wally stopped himself. Who was there? Warden Wolfe, Green Arrow, Linda, her camerawoman Marla, and-

"Oh… God… Hunter?"

"Yes, Flaaaash."

"But… how- why?" He put his upturned hand out to Hunter. "We're friends!"

"And _because _we're friends… Ihaveto teach you howtobea better hero."

"What? What the hell are you talking about? You think killing my friends will make me a better hero? Why?"

"Because you_need _to make the big choices, Wally. Youneed to beable to make the ultimaaaate choice." He looked down at Linda. "And the only way for youto do that… is to do itforthose you love."

Slowly, Flash's desperation and shock turned to something else. Something worse.

"You…" His fists were clenched so hard, his fingernails made the palm of his hands bleed.

Faster than he thought possible, Wally charged at Zoom.

Hunter, faster still, ran backwards, holding Linda in front of him like a prize to be won at a fairground.

Zoom suddenly stopped and stepped to the side, his foot outstretched.

Wally tripped and hit the ground hard, bouncing along the road kilometres at a time before he finally managed to stop himself.

He was about to charge back to Hunter when the Rogue profiler reappeared in front of him. The scarlet speedster forced himself to his feet once again. His strength was spent. The muscles in his legs were going to fail him any minute now. He had been pushing his body too hard, and receiving too much punishment.

A gust of wind almost bowled him over. Two pairs of arms held him up.

"Don't worry, Wally," Jay said. "We've got him."

Zoom shook his head. "No. You don't." He looked at Wally. "I'llwaitfor you to recover. Youneedtobe at fullstrength. Youneedtobe at your bestwhenyousee her diiieee. Knowing even thenthat you could donothing for Lindaaaa. Andthenyou will_know_ how tobe ahero."

Wally reached out, but it was too late.

They both vanished, and Wally fell into his friends' arms, exhaustion finally taking him into unconsciousness' sweet embrace.

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A holler of joy left John's lips as he smashed the window. Jagged glass rained down on him, but he didn't care about the little nicks he was getting. A big enough piece could allow them to cut through their bonds and get the hell out of here.

Light poured in through the windows, and both John and Shayera squinted.

"Is there a piece big enough?"

"Yeah, I-"

The sound of a door creaking open echoed into the room. Now that John's vision was cleared, he could see the true state of the cabin around him. God, it was a mess. What looked like blood covered one side of the room, while the rest was falling apart. John recognised the cause, too. Gunfire.

The door to the room flew open, and Zoom stepped through, carrying a stirring Linda Park in his arms. He set her down and stood back up to his full height. His image flickered slightly before returning to normal.

John ground his jaw as he realised all the glass had been cleared, and his bonds retied to make them even tighter. Linda's arms and legs were now tied as well.

"Youwon'tleave."

His gaze travelled over both John and Shayera. He took a step back and grasped the doorknob.

"Not until he arrives."

Zoom shut the door, leaving them alone once again.

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The plastic tray thumped noisily onto the table in front of him.

"Eat up."

Flash stared blankly out the window. "I'm not hungry."

Without a moment's hesitation, Nightwing slapped Flash around the head. "You want to save John? Shayera? Linda? Then you eat, moron."

Reluctantly (and somewhat venomously), Wally shoved the first of the stack of burgers into his mouth.

The protector of Bludhaven slid into the chair beside him. "How are you feeling?"

Flash shrugged. "Dr Mid-Nite fixed me up pretty good. We had to re-break the ribs and make them set the right way with some laser doohickey he made, but…" he shook his head and finished the first burger. Without hesitation, he moved onto the next. Then the next. And the next after that.

Nightwing allowed himself a small smile in spite of the situation.

_Not hungry, my ass._

"Have they been able to find him?" Wally asked, spraying Dick with bits of burger.

"No," he said, wiping the crumbs from his costume. "He just moves too fast."

The next burger stopped before it reached his mouth. "Tell me about it," he muttered.

"They're gonna have a meeting on the bridge to talk about Zoom's powers. Just finish up here and get into a new costume-"

"I don't have time for that. He's gonna-"

"He said he wasn't going to until you were there. That's… kinda comforting, isn't it?"

Wally blew out an uncharacteristically heavy sigh. "I guess." He looked out the window at the Earth rotating below them. "I still can't believe… Hunter. It's like… Roy turning into a bad guy or something."

The protector of Bludhaven could only offer a shrug. "It's hard to tell who your friends are sometimes."

Another bite of Flash's burger followed. He glanced at Dick before returning his gaze to the window. "Not really," he mumbled.

Nightwing took the backhanded comment as a compliment.

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It was quite a mix of colours up on the bridge. Like stepping into a kaleidoscope, only slower and maybe a little duller.

Wally looked around the command station. Mr Terrific was sat in his usual chair, his fingers locked together in front of his face. He looked as tense as Wally felt. Jay leant against the control panel on the right of the Justice League coordinator, the two occasionally murmuring something to one another.

Bart straddled a chair on Jay's left, looking around the Watchtower with appropriate awe. Wally remembered that Bart had never seen the Watchtower, only the Metro Tower.

One more thing he would have to amend once this was all over.

If he was still around by then, obviously.

Further to the right stood the Atom, Static, and Gear, a blackboard behind them with a diagram drawn on it that looked simple but was still too complicated for Wally to understand. A rectangular box had been drawn horizontally, with a long white line going through it from left to right.

Below it was another diagram with a similar looking box, except the line was below it.

Carter had sent his apologies for not being there. He was down on Earth with Superman, searching for Shayera. As if he would be anywhere else.

Nightwing and Elongated Man had come up with Flash, and were stood on either side of him.

"Okay," Dick said, "we're here. How's Zoom doing what he's doing?"

"Let's just call him Hunter, okay?" Wally asked irritably. "I'm sick of dancing around it like it's not there."

The Atom paused for a moment. "…okay. Now, I've been talking with Jay Garrick there," he turned and pointed, and the man in question gave a small nod, "and we came up with a few theories. This," he said, tapping a piece of chalk on the board behind him, "is the theory we, um…_ like_… the most."

Bart leant forward, his chair threatening to topple over. "And that is?" His chair came perilously close to falling, but Jay slammed a foot on one of the legs and pulled him back down to earth with a thump.

Unaware of the near miss, the Atom continued on. "This diagram," he said, pointing to the one of the rectangle with the line through it, "represents how _we _move through time. We're all moving at the same rate."

"This," he said, pointing at the rectangle that hovered above a white line, "is Zoo- um, _Hunter_. He's separate from the normal flow of time. He can't go back – from what we've seen, at least – but he _can _control how fast he moves forward." He looked over at Mr Terrific. "And that's the theory in a nutshell."

The League co-ordinator shrugged. "It's not me who has to understand." He nodded at Wally.

All eyes turned to the speedster. "Uh… I don't, uh…" he sighed. "What are you talking about?"

Nightwing popped his head around into Wally's line of sight. "You just move fast, he can freeze time."

"Oh. Gotcha."

Static and Gear suddenly looked at each other.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Gear nodded. "Maybe… I think it's still at our headquarters…" He turned to Mr Terrific. "Are the teleporters working yet?"

"Not for anything organic."

The two teenage heroes exchanged smiles. "That's perfect. Backpack?"

The machine on Gear's back sprang to life, sprouting four spider like legs and an eyeball attached to a cable before leaping onto the control panel. Bart yelped like a little girl and leapt from his chair. He turned to Static and Gear.

"Uh…" he cleared his throat. "I meant to do that."

They stared at him for a few seconds before Gear looked at Backpack. "Give the Justice League teleporter the co-ordinates for Dr MacDonald's Time Gauntlet. You get that? Time Gauntlet." He looked over at Atom. "The voice recognition protocols are kinda messed up lately."

Atom smiled and shrugged. "It happens."

Within a few minutes, Gear was presenting the machine to the Atom. "Hmm… it could work…" he muttered, taking the keyboard sized device and looking at its' underside. "Maybe some modifications to the reverse analogous chip…"

Gear nodded. "I was thinking that. Maybe just replace it with a-"

"-digital relay!" they said simultaneously.

Wally looked over at Ralph, who gave him an equally bewildered look. "Nerds," he muttered. "What're you gonna do?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The familiar whine of a Javelin jet's engine made all three of them look up to the roof. The windows rattled as it came ever closer.

"What is that?" Linda asked.

John and Shayera gave each other a look of both relief and fear. After all, who could hope to stop this guy?

Thick tyres screeched on the road, and the noise from the engine gradually faded.

Outside, Wally stepped down the lowering ramp of the jet, hopping off before it touched the ground. He flexed his right hand. The Time Gauntlet felt weird on his arm. Created by a scientist called Dr MacDonald, Static and Gear had to contend with Speedwarp, a kid who stole the device from the good Doctor while at science camp.

It sounded kooky to Wally, too. But anything that could give him an edge was worth it.

It covered his entire forearm, the dark orange clashing with the red of his costume. Not that he cared too much about that right now. He just hoped the damn thing worked.

Zoom appeared in front of him.

"Youfoundmeee."

"Yeah, not too hard to find at all…" he muttered, looking to the broken down cabin. "Is that the place, Hunter? The place where The Clown wrecked your life?"

"Youshutup."

He flickered, and suddenly he was carrying Linda. Her arms and legs were bound.

"W- Flash?"

The Scarlet Speedster smiled grimly. "It doesn't matter, Linda. He knows."

She looked over at Zoom, who didn't respond. He just put her down on the ground.

"Hey, Hunter." Wally tilted his head to the side. "How's your wife?"

_That _did it. Hunter disappeared. Wally pushed the raised orange, red and white button on the time gauntlet.

Hunter's perceptions shifted. Everything froze around him, including Wally. He leisurely walked over to him and threw a fist at the speedster.

Wally blocked it.

Zoom's eyes widened.

So did Flash's grin.

The superhero speedster slammed his fist into Zoom's chin, and followed it up with a jab to the belly. After another blow to the chin, Hunter stumbled back, blood trickling from his mouth.

Flash rubbed his knuckles. "You have _no _idea how long I've wanted to do that."

A steady hand wiped the blood away. "So. We're even."

"Yep. Gotta love all those weirdo bad guys young kids fight, don'tcha?"

"Speedwarp?"

A red eyebrow cocked beneath the Flash cowl. "Are there any bad guys you don't know?"

In response, Hunter lunged for the gauntlet, moving pathetically slow. Wally moved out of the way, his muscles feeling sluggish.

He hadn't been normal since he was twelve. It was a strange feeling to be that way again.

"Give that to me!" Hunter yelled, again lunging at Wally.

"Psh. Yeah, right."

He tried to nail Hunter with another blow to the face, but the police profiler ducked beneath it, tackling Wally to the ground. He grabbed Wally's wrist and slammed the Gauntlet into the ground again and again. Yellow boots pressed against his stomach, and Wally pushed him off.

Zoom got to his feet. He glanced at Linda.

"If I hit her now… it would be enough to snap her head right off."

He turned and ran, and Wally went after him, cursing how slow he felt.

Hunter suddenly stopped, turned, and grabbed the Gauntlet, tearing it from Wally's arm. Everything suddenly sped up again around the speedster. He turned to Linda and ran towards her, praying.

The familiar yellow figure appeared in front of him, blocking his path. Zoom smiled and dropped the wrecked remains of the Gauntlet to the ground.

"Nocheating."

Wally's teeth clenched.

"Oh… that's _it!"_

He turned, and ran.

Hunter's smile faltered.

Linda looked equally confused.

"Ah…" Hunter said, turning to look the other way. "That'swhaaaat he's doing."

A cloud of dust appeared in the distance, a small red blip leading it. Zoom prepared himself for impact, his arms outstretched to either side and a benign smile on his face.

Wally went around him and continued on his way.

"What are you doing?!" Hunter yelled.

Again, Flash came around, and again, ignoring Hunter and continuing his run. Again and again, faster and faster, until all that was there was a red blur. Clouds began to gather, darkening the sky. Thunder rumbled around them, threatening lightning.

Suddenly, he stopped.

Blue and red electricity danced around him. He stood before Zoom, his entire body vibrating on the spot.

"All right," he said, he voice distorted by the high speeds. "You wanted me to learn? Let's learn."

Flash's blow hit him so fast, Zoom punched a hole in the cabin as he sailed through it.

As quickly as he had been thrown away, he was back. He smiled.

"Yousee? You arebeginning tounderstand." He looked to Linda, then back to Wally. "Let's see how well."

He walked slowly over to Wally and turned in the opposite direction to Linda, looking down the road.

"Arace."

"What?"

"A race. If youwin, youget her. If I win…" he smiled. "Well. When I hit heeeeer, there will be nothing left."

Just as Wally had done, Zoom shot off away from the cabin. Flash set off after him, not daring to spare a glance back at Linda.

The speedster silently cursed as he slowly fell behind the time distorted profiler. Even now, at his top speed, Zoom was still ahead of him.

All sounds were gone. All light blurred together. He felt something pull at him. Call to him.

The Speed Force.

They were getting closer to Linda. Wally could feel it.

He couldn't let the Speed Force take him. Not now. He focused on everyone who needed him.

John.

Shayera.

Linda.

_Linda…_

The pull eased. Zoom was still ahead of him.

He silently screamed in frustration.

Wally West had never killed.

He never wanted to.

But he had to stop Zoom. Anyway he could.

_Any. Way_.

And finally, Wally understood what Green Arrow was trying to tell him.

Clark had said that there was always a choice.

Wally made his.

He pushed himself into a dead sprint, and with a sudden burst of speed, Wally came closer and closer to Zoom, his arms outstretched.

Wally threw his arm around Hunter's neck, grabbing him in a running headlock. He pulled hard. Blue and red electricity crackled around them, growing more intense the faster they ran and the harder Wally squeezed.

Zoom lost his footing and tumbled forward, throwing Flash off his back and tossing him forward at speeds just under that of light.

He stopped when he smashed into a building in Seattle.

At first, he couldn't hear anything. He thought he was dead. Slowly, the sounds of a busy city began to filter in. With slow, deliberate and painful movements, Wally pulled himself to his feet, the occasional crackle of electricity dancing over his body. His whole body tingled like it had pins and needles, and he found it hard to balance.

He stumbled out of the hole in the wall he had created. A trench of upturned earth and road lay before him, trailing off into the distance. He reached for his comlink, but found that it was gone.

Trying to ignore the amazed and shocked stares he was getting, Wally began walking. He collapsed with a thump after two steps. Strong hands lifted him up. Carter's voice drifted in and out as he spoke.

"It's okay. I've got you."

Before he finally allowed exhaustion to take him, Wally felt himself flying into the air.

God, he hoped Linda was okay.

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	10. Getting By

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Complicated Simplicity**_

_**Chapter Ten: Getting By**_

The gentle hum of hospital activity surrounded them. Doctors being paged, patients being discussed, and the occasional squeak of new shoes rubbing against the floor.

It made Hunter's blank stare all the more haunting. The intense red glow of his eyes had faded – he resembled an albino more than a supervillain, now.

Supervillain… Wally was still having trouble grasping the concept that Hunter Zolomon… _Hunter Zolomon_… was Zoom. This was someone he had had beers with as Wally West. Someone who he talked to about case files and made jokes with at the expense of other co-workers.

And he was a supervillain. A supervillain who had tried to kill the woman he loved.

Linda was back at her apartment, although she admitted she didn't feel safe anywhere at the moment. It made Wally want to break down and cry, thinking of the danger he put her in just because he was who he was. It certainly wasn't easy. Wally West was The Flash. And The Flash was Wally West. He couldn't just stop. It would be like asking him to stop being able to loop his tongue or being able to tell what kind of beef was being used for his burger just by smelling the air.

Wally sat by his friend, afraid to do anything to pass the time. It somehow felt like he would be disrespecting his friend if he did so.

A friend who tried to kill him and those close to him…

Infectious rage built up in Wally, and threatened to overwhelm him. He fought it down. Hunter was his friend. He was sick.

He was frozen in time.

And it was Wally's fault.

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John peered through the window leading into Hunter's room. He turned to the Atom.

"What happened to him?"

He was quiet for a moment. "Zoom can slow down time, and, in a way, Flash's powers speed it up. When Flash's 'Speed Force' came into contact with Zoom's powers, it must've… cancelled Zoom's powers out."

"Is he all right?"

The Atom grimaced. "He's frozen. I'm not sure if he'll age, stay the same… he might drop dead in a few minutes, for all we know."

"What about brain activity? He looks pretty…"

"Flat line."

"So if he does come out of it?"

"There'll be nobody home. Of course," he said, looking through the window, "it's possible that his brainwaves are just moving so slowly that we can't register them. Or too fast." He shrugged helplessly. "We can't tell right now."

John nodded. "Well… thanks for the help, Doc." He pushed open the door.

"Ray."

Lantern looked at him. "Sorry?"

"Ray. Pretty much everyone calls me Ray."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks, Ray."

Atom nodded and smiled awkwardly. "Um… give him my regards, won't you?"

"Sure."

John gingerly put his head into the room. "Wally?" he asked softly.

Slower than the Lantern thought possible of him, Flash turned his head to face him.

"Yeah?" His voice was equally soft, as though they might wake up Hunter if they spoke too loudly.

The man who considered himself best friend to the Flash pulled up a chair and sat down beside him. The speedster was just staring at Hunter.

"How are you doing?"

"Well as expected, I guess."

John took in Hunter's frozen visage. "Do you need anything?"

"Nah, I'm okay." Pale blue eyes glanced at John's ring. "You found it?"

"Yeah. He put it on my display in the Flash Museum." He looked at Wally unsurely. "Speaking of which, since when did I have a display in _your _museum?"

The speedster shrugged.

Well, so much for cheering him up _that _way.

"Nightwing recovered. He's back at Bludhaven."

"Oh, good."

Lantern put a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon. I'll buy you a coffee."

Wally sighed. "A beer'd be better, the way I'm feeling…"

"Whatever you want. I'm buying."

"Look… John, I appreciate it, but-"

"But nothing. You're my friend. You'd do the same for me. Hell, you've tried, remember?"

"A little," he mumbled.

"Right. So what kind of a best friend would I be if I didn't help you out?"

Another sigh escaped the speedster. "A bad one, I guess…" he said dejectedly.

John nodded. "Right. So let's go. You can visit him later."

Moving achingly slow, Wally pulled himself out of his chair and tore his gaze from Hunter.

"Every day."

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The differences between Central City and Star City only became more apparent when in the police department of the two cities.

The clean walls, the neatly dressed officers, the quiet yet busy atmosphere… Green Arrow couldn't help but envy the Flash. He looked over to his right, and saw Elongated Man slowly melting away in his chair.

"Bored, Ralph?"

"No. I've a got a date."

"You melt when you're nervous? Is that another one of those publicity things?" He smiled and winked teasingly. "Like your nose twitching?"

The elastic man shot him a look. "Is it true that you wear the hat to hide a bald spot?"

"No." Ollie self consciously touched the back of his hat. "Why, who told you that? Dinah?"

Ralph smirked. "You'll never know."

The door to the room opened, and Detective Jared Morillo stepped through, flagged by his huge bear of a partner, Officer Fred Chyre. Wally had mentioned them from time to time, but never in any way but complimentary.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the smaller of the two said, sliding into the chair opposite them. Chyre elected to stand, his arms crossed in front of his barrel chest.

"It's okay," Arrow said, waving a dismissive hand. "We were having a fun discussion."

"…right. Anyway, about Flash."

"Are there gonna be any charges raised?"

Morillo let out a heavy breath, as if he had been holding it for a day. "He _did _put Zolomon in a coma."

"It's not a coma."

"When we explain it to the court, it's going to _sound _like a coma."

The archer leant back in the chair, his arms folded. "Are there going to be any charges?"

The detective paused. "No. Not right now, anyway. Zolomon killed a lot of people with those sonic booms when he first appeared."

"How many?"

"We've counted twenty six so far. But a lot of buildings collapsed…"

"We're still finding bodies," Chyre finished, his low growl of a voice sounding uncharacteristically soft.

"Unless Zolomon's next of kin arrive and want to press charges… I don't think there's going to be anyone screaming for Flash's blood."

"Does he _have_ any next of kin?"

"An ex-wife."

"That's all?"

Morillo just shrugged.

Arrow got to his feet, and Elongated Man sprang to his shortly after.

"Thanks for your time."

He shook hands with both police officers. Morillo put a hand on his shoulder as he was leaving.

"Give Flash the CCPD's best."

"Of course."

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"Of course, you're welcome to come and stay with us for awhile," Jay said, trying to get a read on his young friend from across the table. The elder Flash had decided he preferred the warm orange tones of the Metro Tower to the blue, militaristic tones of the Watchtower. Something about the place made him feel tense.

"It's okay, Jay. I really think I should be with Linda anyway."

"Bring her along. I'm sure Joan would love some female company." He nodded at Shayera, who was sat between them. "She did when Shayera came."

"Jay, it's not… that simple, y'know? Linda hasn't had this kind of thing before. At least," he idly poked at the scrambled egg on the tray before him. "Not before she met me."

"Don't think that way. I don't want you to throw this thing away just because you're feeling guilty, you hear me?"

"And if she leaves _me_?"

"Has she?"

"No, but-"

"Then don't start getting paranoid."

"How am I supposed to be, Jay? Linda… she…" He turned away from Jay, back down to his food. "… I don't want her to be in danger because of me. That's why I should just…"

Shayera took this moment to speak up. "No. It's up to her. If she leaves you because of this, fine. But don't you make that decision for her. That's something…"

"What?"

"That Batman would do."

Silence hung between them.

"This is _amazing!"_

Bart zipped in beside them, an amused Hawkman following him into the room.

"Those training robots are _way _harder than the ones wehave!"

"And that's a good thing?" Jay asked bemusedly.

"Yeah! Those things really make me stretch my legs, y'know?" He looked over at Wally's dour expression. "Oh. Oops. Sorry, Wally."

The speedster smiled weakly. "It's okay, buddy. It's kinda nice to have someone acting normally around me."

Shayera and Jay exchanged looks. "We're just trying to help, Wally."

"By butting in?"

Jay's frown turned into a scowl. "Now, hold on. That's not-"

In a move so fast and violent it even made Shayera jump, Wally got to his feet and slammed his hands down on the table.

"Just shut up, okay?!"

All noise from the commissary dropped away.

Carter put a hand on his shoulder. "Wally-"

The speedster coldly shrugged off the hand and disappeared in a blur of red and gold.

Jay closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead while Shayera stared blankly down at the pasta on her tray.

"Excuse me, I have to go and break something."

The Thanagarian upped and left.

Bart looked up at Carter, pointing after Shayera. "Shouldn't someone-?"

"Definitely not."

"Oh." He pointed in the direction Wally had left. "Then shouldn't someone, uh…?"

Hawkman paused at that. "I don't know."

Bart took that as a 'yes', and shot off after his elder cousin.

Carter looked down at Jay, and they exchanged friendly nods.

"I don't remember having these problems when I was his age."

Taking it as an invitation, Hawkman sat down opposite the elder Flash. "He's a different kind of person. He takes things… very personally."

Jay sighed and leant back in his chair. "He'll be all right. I just wish one of _us _could be the ones to do it."

"I know. But his bond with Linda _is _rather strong. Maybe she can help him more than any of us."

He was silent. "Or maybe they'll help each other." Jay's head snapped up to look at Carter. "Anyway. Let's move on to a different subject, shall we?"

"Um… all right."

"All this action has got me thinking." Jay leant forward on the table. "You think this floating superhero club of yours could use two speedsters?"

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Bart almost ran past Wally, and struggled to come to a stop once he spotted him. He was stood on an observation deck, overlooking the Earth as it spun below them.

"Wally?"

"…Hey, Bart." It was barely a murmur.

Kid Flash stood beside his would-be mentor, putting his hands behind his back in a way he thought looked intelligent.

"Nice view."

"Yeah."

"Wally?"

"Hm?"

"What's actually wrong? I mean, you beat the bad guy, right? I know that he's your friend and all, but y'know… he's still alive, and he might pull through later on."

"Mmm-hmm."

"Then why're you gettin' all angry with old Flash and Shayera?"

"Because…" Wally let out a breath. "It's complicated, Bart."

"What? Is it because Linda was put in danger just because you were the Flash?"

"…kinda."

"Because that sounds pretty simple to me."

Wally frowned briefly, and didn't reply straight away. "I guess."

"So it's _not _about that."

"Look, Bart, I-"

"Kid, let him be. I've gotta talk to him."

The two speedsters looked over to the approaching Green Arrow. Wally looked at his sidekick. "It's okay, Bart."

Reluctantly, he sped away, presumably back to the commissary.

Arrow stood beside Wally, looking out at the view in much the same way Bart had.

"Good kid."

"The best."

Ollie sighed. "I'm here to tell you that there won't be any charges pressed for what happened to Zolomon."

"Oh. Good."

The archer turned to Wally. "By the way… I just wanted to say that… I was wrong. What I said before about sometimes having to kill. You… proved that there's always another way."

"It's nothing."

"It's not nothing, it's-"

"It's _nothing, _Arrow, all right?"

Ollie grit his teeth. "Dammit, what's wrong with you? Is this because of Linda?"

"No."

"Then what is it? Why are you acting like this isn't a good thing?"

The speedster whirled to face him. "Because I WAStrying to kill him, all right?!"

Silence followed. Wally whirled back around to look out the window. The gentle thrum of the Watchtower's generator seemed to grow louder with every second that passed.

Arrow gingerly put a hand on his shoulder. "It… it was for all the right reasons, Flash. He was going to kill everyone you cared about, and then move on to anyone else who tried to stop him." He turned the speedster around so they were face to face. "You _weren't _wrong to try, you hear me?"

He didn't reply at first. He just stared out the window.

"You make it sound like I was trying it to save the world." Wally pulled off his cowl and looked at Arrow. "I wasn't. All I was thinking of was Linda. That's all. No noble intentions, no 'for the greater good' crap. I tried to kill him, and I did it _just _to save the woman I…" His head dropped. "Well… let's just say I wasn't really sticking to my own rules."

His gaze returned to the window. Arrow pulled off his own mask as he spoke.

"Wally."

No reply.

"Wally, look at me."

The speedster slothfully moved his pale blue eyes to Ollie.

"You did what you had to do. And even though you _think _what you did was selfish, believe me, it was anything but. Zolomon killed over twenty six people with those sonic booms of his. _Twenty six_."

"Oh, so it's okay because it's revenge, is that it?"

"Wally-"

"No, no." A determination that Arrow hadn't seen from Wally since Iron Heights powered his words. "You know what? You were still wrong. We shouldn't kill. I shouldn't have tried. And now that I've actually come close to doing it, I never want to try again, and I never will. You may be okay with taking the occasional life, but I'm not. Next time you look at one of those 'necessary killings', just think about this; it's someone's son, or daughter, or parent, or brother or sister that you're aiming that fancy arrow at. And you can call me naïve or stupid or whatever, but I can't deal with that."

The sudden barrage brought up the argumentative side of Ollie. "What about people like Murmur? He's going to be executed. You know that."

"Yeah, I do. And it's gonna be burned into me for the rest of my life." He put his face forward so that he and Ollie were practically nose to nose. "But I am never… _never_… gonna start accepting it as 'something we have to do'."

Wally prepared himself for a rebuttal. For a smart comeback. Something. He sure as hell wasn't expecting what he got.

"Good."

"I… what?"

"I said, good." He smiled, and put a hand on Wally's shoulder. "It's good that we have someone like you. We _need _someone like you." He pointed a thumb into his own chest. "I may be here to keep the League honest, but you? You're here to keep us _right_. And I'm glad."

He slipped his mask back on and adjusted it a few times before giving Wally a goodbye wave.

"I'll see you around, kid."

And with that, Oliver Queen left the observation room, leaving Wally West alone with himself.

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His date with Sue had gone surprisingly well, for him. The most fantastic thing was that when he stretched his hand over to grab a breadstick or tap a waiter on the shoulder, she wasn't at all freaked out. If anything, she was even more enamoured with him.

Ralph paused in mid-strut as he passed the Rumpus Room.

_Clack… clack… clack… clunk._

He stretched his ear over the door.

His eyes widened. He recognised that noise. An elongated finger pressed a button, and Ralph stepped through.

Flash was sat by himself, idly tapping the buttons on his green Brawlin' Bot.

It was the saddest thing the detective had ever seen.

He slowly made his way in and sat down.

"Hey, buddy."

"Hm? Oh, hey."

"How's stuff?"

He shrugged. "It's okay."

"You want a game?"

"Okay."

Their game was nowhere near as frantic as it usually was. But Ralph could give Wally a little leeway, considering how he was feeling.

"Oh, uh…"

Wally looked up at him. Ralph was still looking down at the Brawlin' Bots, tapping away.

"I realise how wildly inappropriate, disrespectful, and generally distasteful this is, but… Hunter Zolomon being Zoom?" He put a hand up and did a small 'boo-yah' gesture. "Called it."

He didn't dare look up at his speedster friend.

Wally snorted and quickly burst out laughing. And it wasn't sarcastic, ironic, or forced. It was a genuine laugh. He slapped Ralph on the arm, shook his head, and got back to his game.

As usual, Wally won. The two leaned back in their respective chairs.

"Thanks, Ralph."

"What, for letting you win? No problem. I do it all the time."

"Yeah, but… thanks. For… y'know, not babying me or anything."

Ralph shrugged. "Ask me how my date went, and we're even."

"How'd your date go, Ralph?"

"Oh, it was _great! _First…"

Normality began to resume.

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Quietly, Wally knocked on the door of Linda's apartment. She had buzzed him in from downstairs, so she obviously wanted to talk face to face. That was good, right? Linda opened the door.

"…hi."

"Hi."

"Come in, come in."

Wally did. "Linda, I just… I wanted to say I'm so sorry for… everything."

She sighed and sat down on her sofa, inviting him to do the same. She didn't talk until he was sat down.

"Wally. You had nothing to do with what Hunter did. And if you start blaming yourself for something that wasn't anything to do with you, I swear to God I'll hit you."

He continued on nervously. "Well… I just… I'm sorry, is all. Not just for Hunter, but for how scared you were, and how I couldn't do anything to help you."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Are you blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault again? You heard what I said about hitting you, right?"

Wally looked at her incredulously. "Wait. You aren't… upset or anything?"

"Well…" she tucked some hair behind her ear as she considered her words. "…I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared by the whole thing. Actually, 'peeing and/or crapping my pants terrified' sounds more accurate. And… it's going to take me a long time to get over it."

A worried look was Wally's only response. She put her hand on his.

"But… that's all part and package of being with you. I've accepted that. It's not gonna be easy for either of us, but… I'm willing to do it. As soon as you took off that mask in the hospital and showed me who you really were, I knew that."

He still didn't seem convinced.

Linda cocked her head to the side. "But that's not all of it."

The speedster shook his head. "I… I was trying to kill him, Linda."

"But he's not dead."

"It doesn't matter. Not to me. As far as I knew, Hunter was gonna end up dead, and at that moment… I thought that was okay." His tortured gaze met hers. "I thought it was okay to kill somebody."

Reacting on instinct, Linda gently pulled Wally into her embrace. He fell into it easily.

"It's okay, Wally…" she soothed, stroking the back of his head.

"But it's not… I ruined it…"

"I know… and you're going to have to live with it. Just like I'm going to have to." She pulled away, and forced his ashamed gaze to meet hers. "From now on, we deal with these things together."

He slowly smiled. "Thanks, Linda."

She shrugged. "No problem. Tell you what. You save me from supervillains, and I'll take care of you afterwards. Fair trade?"

His smile grew. "I can live with that."

"I thought so."

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(A/N: The unmasked argument was inspired by a similar scene in the 'Identity Crisis' mini-series, where Arrow is justifying his questionable actions to Wally and talking about secret identities. Elongated Man's comment about Arrow's bald spot is also from that series.

I was originally going to have Linda leave Wally at the end of the story so she could have some 'time to think', as she did in the comics after an attack from Zoom caused her to have a miscarriage. That in turn would have lead into another story involving the Black Flash. But in the end, I like my stories to be their own entity and not have 'required reading' attached. And I was a getting a little tired of stories where it concludes with a super speed race/fight.

However, I _do _like to leave hints to future stories that don't force you to read up, e.g. the tension between the Justice League and the Teen Titans, and Jay's comment to Carter about joining the League.

But enough about my random thought patterns. Review!

P.S. Thanks muchly to hhgbh for beta duties.)


	11. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Complicated Simplicity**_

_**Epilogue**_

It had taken a month or so, but Central City calmed, and the people of the city moved on from the deaths caused both by the breakout at Iron Heights, and the destruction wrought by Zoom.

Dreamslayer almost regretted breaking the peace and quiet.

Well, no, actually, he didn't.

After all, he was the Lord of the Dimension of Terrors. He didn't like peace and quiet.

With a blast of magical energy from his flaming skull, Dreamslayer blew open the front of the bank, and his various henchmen ran to the getaway vehicle. The voices of the well-oiled crime machine Dreamslayer had built since his escape from Iron Heights surrounded him.

"C'mon, let's go, let's go!"

"I've got it, get the next one!"

"Okay, we're almost done!"

This was all so easy. Dreamslayer had no idea why Volcana hadn't wanted to come.

A gust of wind made the flame on his head waver slightly.

"Hey, what happened to that bag I gave you?"

"I put it in the van."

"Well, it ain't there now!"

"What? Of course it is, you just gotta look."

"Hey! There's another one missin'!"

"Uh… boss?"

Dreamslayer floated down to the ground. "What is it?"

"The bags of money? They're, uh… kinda disappearing."

"What? But-" he thinned his eyes. Not that anyone could see the gesture beneath his flaming aura. "Show yourself! I know you're here!"

The Flash came to a halt in front of him.

"Ah HA! The Flash!"

Silence descended.

Flash cocked an eyebrow. "Uh… 'Ah ha, the Flash'… what?"

More silence.

"I…" Dreamslayer seemed to be struggling. "I'm not sure!" he yelled. "I was planning on you insulting me by now!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, you stink, and you're as smart as a butt."

Dreamslayer laughed. "Ah HA! Well, it will be you who will be as smart as a butt when I am done!"

Flash just stared at him.

"…with… you…"

The speedster looked at the henchmen nearest to him. "Dude… why are you working for him?"

"Good dental."

"Ah. Well, you're gonna need it." His tone was apologetic.

The henchman sighed. "Yeah, we figured."

In a few seconds, they were all unconscious.

Dreamslayer snarled in anger and floated a few inches above the ground. "You may have defeated _them_, but you will be no match for… Dreamslayer, the Lord of the Dimension of Terrors!"

He looked down at the Flash, but he was gone. A red gloved hand tapped him on the shoulder. Dreamslayer looked over, irritated.

"What?!"

After five super speed punches, Dreamslayer was out, police sirens wailed, and Flash was on his way.

His communicator beeped.

"_Hey, Wally, it's Dick. Could you tell Vic I'll be a bit late to the party?"_

"Why?"

"_Uh… just… generally late."_

Flash grinned. "Said something to piss of Kori?"

"_No."_

Silence.

"…_shut up."_

"I'll tell him. See you later, okay?"

"_Right. Are you still bringing Linda and the others?"_

"Yup. John and Shayera are on their way, Carter has to close up the Museum first, and Jay and Joan… well, they're coming sometime. Jay's really bad at timekeeping, but Joan's really good, so… it could go either way."

"_Right, right… where are you now?"_

He ran down the street outside Linda's apartment, and, on schedule, she was waiting at the curb. She let out a surprised 'oop' noise as he scooped her up at super speed.

"I'm just stepping onto the Central City bay now. I'll be there in about ten minutes, the rate I'm going."

"_Okay. See you then." _Dick paused uncomfortably._ "Wally?"_

"Yeah?"

"_You're feeling okay now, right?"_

"Uh…" He frowned. "Not yet."

Wally looked down at Linda, who gave him a quick, tender kiss on the lips. He came away grinning.

"But I'm definitely getting better."

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(A/N: This chapter doesn't really add anything more to the story except to establish that Wally is getting back to being the Flash we all know and love, and not this angst-ridden, dark guy. But that's important, so I guess it does add something.

Anyway, since a good number of you enjoyed my little 'behind the scenes' type thing last chapter (well, a few of you did), and I enjoy doing that kind of thing anyway, I thought I'd put in some stuff here.

The entire inspiration for this story came from a digest of 'Prelude to Infinite Crisis'. In that book, Flash and Wonder Woman (who is blind for some reason) go after Cheetah and Zoom. Because of Diana being blind, Wally has to lead her with the lasso of truth tied to him. As a result, he becomes brutally honest. While on the trail of the two villains, they come across a wrecked house with a murdered elderly woman inside, killed by Cheetah and Zoom. While cradling the woman in his arms, Wally says:

"My Uncle Barry believed in the death sentence. And so do I. There are some people who need to die."

That got me thinking about how unlike the JLU Wally that statement was, and if there was any way I could push him towards thinking in that way.

Zoom was originally going to be a merge of Hunter Zolomon and Eobard Thawne from the comics. Zolomon would have been a Thawne that had travelled back in time (from the _Batman Beyond_ era) to torture Wally for something he was going to do to him in the future, giving Wally some angsty issues because of that. There would have been a _Batman Beyond_ prologue/epilogue to go with that, with Terry and Warhawk hunting Thawne before he travels back in time. In the end I just thought that was way too confusing and complicated (if JLU has taught me anything, it's to keep stories simple), and Wally doesn't really suit big epic stories like that anyway. In this version, Grodd would have also made an appearance, though I can't remember how or why.

There were quite a few different outcomes to the story, as well:

1) Wally _does_ kill Hunter by snapping his neck, leading into Wally turning himself in and going on trial for manslaughter, a la 'The Trial of Barry Allen'. But I didn't like that because of how grim and gritty it was. That may have worked for Barry Allen, but JLU Wally? Nah.

2) Wally would send Hunter into the future through the speed force, leading into another Batman Beyond era story with Wally's daughter Iris West having to fight Hunter alongside Bart, who would have been the Flash at that point. And Terry would have played a fairly prominent part, obviously.

3) Hunter's coma was actually him having an 'out of body' experience, and finding that he could possess people and objects (like the Flash villain Tar Pit from the comics). This would either have been in the 'present' or in the Beyond era.

4) Pretty much as it is now, except Wally would reveal his identity to the world as a sort of act of defiance against his enemies who think they can change him by attacking him personally. This would have resulted in Linda leaving for 'time to think' and the Black Flash story I talked about last chapter.

I didn't go with this because another certain superhero publicly unmasked, and I didn't want this to be a copy of that. Also, Wally wouldn't be so selfish as to put all his non-powered loved ones in that kind of danger. When Wally went public with his identity in the comics, he didn't really have anyone close to him without powers (as far as I know), whereas in the JLU universe, there's Linda, his Aunt and Uncle, his parents, his co-workers at the police station…

2 and 3 just seemed too complicated and/or epic, and not really Wally material. They didn't give Wally anything to struggle with on an emotional level either, which I always look for when planning out a (serious) story. I think the way it ended up was for the best. But then again, that's what I think. What do you think, readers?

And may I just say, Linda's characterisation in the show is incredibly frustrating to write around, since she's this smart, capable, savvy woman in the comics, and in 'Flash and Substance' she just… wasn't. But I like to stay faithful to the shows while still putting in comic elements (e.g. Hawkman and Atom hanging out, Dr Mid-Nite attending to Flash's injuries, Mr Terrific getting ticked off at Cyborg's 'Family' remark), so 'ditzy Linda' it was, just with stronger characters traits put in there.

Sigh.

Anyway, on to the thanks and kudos!

Thepennameboo: In your last review, you were bouncing happily around the room, so hopefully you enjoyed the rest of the story. Thanks!

LarSinger: My thanks to you for your positive comments on the Wally/Linda relationship. As you can guess from the above paragraph, getting Linda right was a bit of a struggle. Glad you enjoyed the story.

Riana1: Good God, I think you like these stories more than I do. Kidding. But seriously, it's great to see someone enjoying these so much, and from someone who's obviously a big fan of the source material. Too many thanks to count for you.

El Varon: Thanks for your support; very much appreciated.

Balletangel19: Your knowledge of random Flash facts is truly frightening. How do you remember how many sugars Wally has in his coffee? Awe inspiring. ;) Looking forward to more updates on 'A Speedster is Born'.

Mist: Glad you enjoyed the story! I hope I'll see you for my next fic.

Kitsunefire: Your only review, and it was a grammar correction. Sigh. :P Hope you enjoyed the rest of the story!

Luc Star: I haven't heard from you in a while, so I'll just say that I hope you enjoyed the story, and also, y'know, thanks for the reviews!

WarrenAngel: Nice to see a comics fan enjoying the story; I could practically see you rubbing your hands in anticipation when you talked about Hunter becoming more important. Although I will call you out on one thing; while they're green in the comics, in the show, Wally's eyes are pale blue (in 'Flash and Substance', anyway; they're black in the other episodes).

Proponent of EVO: I hope you enjoyed the rest of the story. Thanks for the feedback!

Hhgbh: Seriously, what can be said? You're a rock. Thanks for being a beta (when I'm sure you had better things to do), thanks for the support, thanks for the reviews… too many thanks to count. Hope I wasn't too much trouble. ;)

Scarlet Flashernel: I hope you enjoyed the later chapters; considering your knowledge of the comics, I'm interested to see your opinion.

I am The Lev: I am still incredibly flattered that you took one of my fics as an example of how to write a story. Did you read that, everybody? AN EXAMPLE OF HOW TO WRITE A GOOD STORY! Ahem. ;) Anyway, thanks for the reviews.

JLAFan: Good to see you enjoyed the comedy; I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy my next story, which is basically just Wally + Dick + Roy Chaos.

Kokuryu: You have no idea how much I laughed at your 'time loop' comment. The Flash does seem to have time travel problems when it comes to the women in his life, doesn't he? If it's not Barry's wife being reincarnated a thousand years in the future, it's Linda being erased from the timeline by Abra Kadabra. Ah, well. Thanks for the reviews!

Rogueandkurt: Thanks for your reviews! I'm curious to see what you thought of the final few chapters.

Kj: You want Nightwing? Do ya? Huh? Well, you're gonna get Nightwing, sucka! ;) But in all seriousness, look out for my future JL stories. I guarantee that one in particular will involve Nightwing and the Titans in a big way… But anyway, thanks for reviewing!

KF Fan: Considering just how much fun your Wally-centric stories are, it's always good to see you reviewing, especially in a positive way. Thanks for the reviews, and I hope you enjoyed the rest.

-BaNg bAnG-Punker4Life: Thanks for the reviews!

God of Static: Considering your username (and assuming it's the Static Shock character you're referencing), I hope you enjoyed all the Static Shock stuff I put in this story. That show really is better than many give it credit for. Thanks for reviewing!

Doc-trigger: Thanks for your reviews. I can't agree with you more on the lack of good Wally stories. There are very few that aren't romance or angsty to the point of "Wally, just… shut up." Although that's quite a few JL fics nowadays since the show finished. Ah, for the good old days…

Princofreaks: I appreciate your honesty, and I'm happy that you could see past your distaste for the Wally/Linda relationship and enjoy the story. Thanks for reviewing!

Red Tigress: Thanks for complimenting my Flash knowledge. A little ego boost never hurt anyone. ;) Oh, and thanks for the feedback, don't forget that.

Lady Jaye: Good to hear (read?) you enjoyed the story; your characterisations of Wally and Ollie are probably my favourites ever (except for the shows, of course). Thanks for the reviews!

Jemand: Thanks for the feedback! More chapters, as requested. What'd you think?

J: I don't know if you and Jemand are the same person, but if you're not, thanks for reviewing!

Also, thanks to:

The World's Finest website for info on Static Shock names and details.

Hyperborea: Those Who Ride the Lightning website for a metric ton of information on Flash stuff.

Probably a hundred other things I'm forgetting, but those two are the really important ones.

And thanks to all who review this chapter as well!

Hope you had fun, folks.)


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